In a wide-ranging speech that touched on everything from literacy rates to security at athletic events, Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Tonja Williams Knight painted a picture of a school district that’s emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever in her State of Schools Address on Wednesday.
“We’re going to continue to move this trajectory from good to great. We will stay the course,” Williams Knight told an auditorium filled with BPS staff and community members at Buffalo State University. “We will continue to engage our community and our parents. We will work together. We are moving in the right direction. There is no magic bullet. If you thought a calvary was coming, it's not. We have to be the change that we want to see, because there is no calvary.”
Here are six takeaways from Williams Knight’s third annual address:
‘That was not easy’: Literacy and math proficiency improvements for third graders
After thanking colleagues and community members, Williams Knight turned to the achievement she seemed proudest of: big improvements in literacy and math proficiency for some of the district’s elementary school students.
In between pauses for applause, Williams Knight shared that 40% of economically disadvantaged third graders were reading at grade level during the 2023-24 school year, a 7% increase over last year’s literacy rate. The math proficiency rate for the same group increased from 13% to 21% during the same time period.
Under goals set by the board of education, 39% of economically disadvantaged third graders were supposed to be reading at grade level, and 15% were supposed to be meeting standards for math.
Williams Knight said exceeding those goals “wasn’t easy,” especially since last year’s cohort of third graders were in pre-school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online.
“You all helped us to prove — regardless of the hurdles, and the zip codes, and the race, and the language, and the disability, and I could go on and on and on — what our children can do when we all stay united,” Williams Knight said. “We put forth hard work, strategy, fortitude, determination, perseverance, purpose, old fashioned grit and a little bit of mother wit, [and] we have proven what can happen for our children, and I’m so proud of them.”
The majority of third graders still aren’t reading and calculating at grade level. 58% of all third graders and 60% of those with economic disadvantages didn’t meet reading benchmarks for their grade, according to a presentation from the board of education’s July 17 meeting. Another 76% of third graders and 80% of those with economic disadvantages were at least one grade level behind in math. 39% and 42%, respectively, were at least two grade levels behind in math.
Williams Knight told reporters after her speech that the board of education hadn’t given her reading and math proficiency goals for the 2024-25 academic year yet.
“I’m imagining that we will build on the success that we had last year,” she said.
‘Another heartache, headache’: The end of pandemic-era federal funding
Federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund Plan (ESSER) ran out at the end of this past school year, leaving BPS with a $90 million hole in their more than $1.1 billion budget.
To account for the lack of emergency federal funding, the board of education agreed to cut approximately 30 positions districtwide, according to a board of education presentation. Another 42 retiring employees won’t be replaced, and 187 vacant positions won’t be filled either.
But Williams Knight suggested that the district had largely come out of the budget process unscathed, calling the job cuts “minimal” and touting a “strong” fund balance of $396 million.
“We went back out to the community, including our children, to hear from them: ‘What is important in your schools? What do you need to keep?’” Williams Knight said. “Whoever asked children, when it comes to the budget, what they want? We did. We did, and we listened, and we did it.”
‘BPS students do not get a special pass when it comes to graduation requirements’
Near the end of her speech, the superintendent pushed back against the “rumor” that BPS students “get a special pass” to graduate without the skills they need to succeed in college or the workplace.
“Our children take Regents Exams, just like they do across New York State. Our principals, assistant principals, counselors in high school, work really, really hard with our children,” Williams Knight said. “So, I want to stop the false narratives. I think there are children across our state that take placement exams when they get to college that need extra support. It’s not a Buffalo thing.”
As evidence of BPS graduates’ readiness, Williams Knight cited the $6.3 million that BPS students collectively earned in scholarships and the 2,100 students who earned college credit through Advanced Placement classes.
Disparities in graduation rates within BPS persist
Williams Knight didn’t spend much time talking about graduation rates, but she was “proud to report” one statistic: Four BPS high schools had graduation rates of over 90%.
That appears to be down from last year. Six BPS high schools had four-year graduation rates of at least 90% for the cohort entering high school in 2019, according to 2023 data from the New York State Education Department.
The district had an overall graduation rate of 79% as of August 2023, according to the State Education Department.
When asked what BPS was doing to raise graduation rates at other schools after her speech, Williams Knight said she and other district officials were working to make classes more engaging, train teachers and tackle absenteeism.
“The absenteeism is a part of why some of the children are struggling because they’re not in school,” Williams Knight said. “Where we typically see issues is that pre-K and kindergarten, and [in] seniors. Seniors have had senioritis since I was a senior. You think you’ve already made it, you're already done, and you stop doing what you need to do. But we’re going to keep continuing to work with, you know, with the schools, with the families, with our community partners, trying to make our learning engaging for the students. And we just keep plugging away at it.”
The suspension rate fell last year
About 6,500 suspensions were issued in Buffalo Public Schools last academic year, according to data from BPS. But that’s down from last year, according to Williams Knight, who announced that there were about 500 fewer suspensions this year than during the 2022-23 school year.
The superintendent said the decrease in suspensions represented progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors.
“Buffalo is not unique across this country,” Williams Knight said. “After this pandemic, our children are traumatized, and they are presenting with high needs. We got to say it. It’s the elephant in the room. I’m not going to pretend that it’s not the case. But we continue to work with them. We continue to see the brilliance in them. We continue to believe in them.”
New safety measures for high school football games implemented
Williams Knight concluded her speech by announcing a raft of new measures meant to prevent fights like those seen at several high school football games last fall.
Moving forward, security teams will patrol the perimeter of the football field; student spectators will be required to have a parent or “responsible adult” present; spectators will not be allowed to re-enter during a game; spectators will have to go through scanners on their way in; and spectators on opposing teams will be placed in separate bleachers and dismissed separately.
“It’s nothing difficult. I don’t think it’s anything extreme that we’re asking, and it is for a good reason,” Williams Knight said. “We want these to be family events that are fun and enjoyable.”