The Shikellamy and Shamokin school districts are on par with Valley schools in spending per student, but both districts fall short of their Valley and statewide counterparts in reading and math proficiency.

Their shortcomings, backed by state studies, can be attributed to larger groups of low-income families, special education pupils and a transient population pulling students in and out of schools.

For Shikellamy, it translates into 40 percent of the students coming from low-income households and 5 percent from transient families, who make up the 55 percent of Sunbury housing occupied by renters.

“One of the things we’ve had trouble with is getting some parents to understand the importance of education,” Shikellamy Superintendent Alan Lonoconus said. “Only about 81 percent of district residents have a high school diploma, so we’re looking at 20 percent who may not see the value in it. In addition, we only have 12 percent of residents who have gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher.”

Shamokin’s numbers are also dominated by a growing at-risk population, highlighted by 62 percent of the student population that is economically disadvantaged.

“Just because we have a high number of economic disadvantaged students doesn’t mean they can’t achieve,” Shamokin Superintendent James Zack said. “It means they achieve at different rates. The hardest skill — learning how to walk — you can’t expect every child to learn within the first nine months.

“Some do and some don’t. In school, you have 180 days to learn the material and that’s it. Part of the problem is we don’t have enough time to get it all done.”

Both districts performed just below the state average in the recent Pennsylvania System of School Assessment’s (PSSA) reading and math tests, while a majority of Valley districts excelled.

Doing more with less

Although 12 area school districts met Adequate Yearly Progress — having at least 56 percent of students reach proficiency in math and 63 percent reach proficiency in reading — some seem to be doing more with less.

Even though it spends $2,000 less on each student than most districts in the state, Mifflinburg has seen its pupils outperform their counterparts, including many in neighboring Valley districts that spent between $7,230 and $9,348 in 2004-05.

Some districts in Pennsylvania spent up to $20,221 but, on average, the figures hovered near $10,000.

Mifflinburg’s achievement while spending $7,961 — far less than the state says is needed to adequately educate students — is an anomaly, according to Pennsylvania education officials.

In fact, four Valley districts are bucking the trend by getting proficient results on student budgets roughly $4,000 less than the recommended adequacy level.