Kilgore College implements plan to improve reading scores

The Kilgore College Board of trustees met last night and voted to decrease the tax rate by one cent.

The current tax rate is 16.4 cents per hundred dollars valuation and the vote was to decrease that rate to 15.4 cents.

The new rate is below the rollback rate of 15.421 cents.

The current rate would yield the college $5,869, 466 in property tax revenue. The rollback rate would have generated $5,518,730 and the rate approved by the board will being in $5,511,572.

The first of two public hearings is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. and the second public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 2 at noon. Those hearings are open to the public and the public will be invited to speak on the tax rate.

At the board meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, the board is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. to consider adopting the tax rate for 2008 and approval of budget transfer reports for the last fiscal year.

Also during last night's meeting the Get a Grip (Giving Reading Its Priority) program was discussed. The program was brought about by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) concern over new college students who are not able to read at a freshman level.

Chris Craddock, KC public information officer, said 40 percent of the students at KC read below the freshman level when registering at KC.

SACS expectations for KC is to set up a broadbased support and involvement plan, an institution wide plan with a positive impact on student learning, have a learner-centered plan showing evidence exists proving, directly or indirectly, that a strategy has achieved the desired outcome, the college is capable of implementing and sustaining the plan and assessment of the process and the student is an inherent part of the plan.

Craddock said KC will implement a Quality Enhancement Plan over the next four years. The college will implement strategies to achieve college-level reading comprehension across the curriculum for KC students.

Some of the objectives for the plan are sophomore degreeseeking students will demonstrate reading comprehension at grade 13 or higher and students will value the importance of reading as a necessary part of their college education.