NEW SCOTLAND — The Voorheesville Central School District is the wealthiest of 431 upstate school systems, according to Buffalo Business First, a publication in western New York.

Conversely, the school was ranked lower, academically, than its larger Capital Region neighbors, according to the paper’s analysis.

The newspaper examined test results and graduation rates available from the New York State Education Department from 2011 to 2014, and found that only 3.7 percent of the children in Voorheesville live below the federally designated poverty line.

The next highest upstate poverty rates were 4.8 percent or greater, according to Buffalo Business First.

Voorheesville’s new Superintendent, Brian Hunt, told The Enterprise that the Business First ranking left questions about the underlying data.

Hunt acknowledged that free or reduced-fee lunch rates are low in Voorheesville — a standard against which poverty levels are often defined — and that median income in the Voorheesville district is “relatively high.”

“Suburban areas of Albany tend to be wealthier,” he said. “That can mask underlying issues with students, some students who struggle financially.”

Voorheesville withdrew from the federal student lunch program for a year due to complaints by parents and students about nutritional requirements and small portion sizes.

“Voorheesville is rejoining the federal student lunch program,” Hunt said. “That’s a support you can have in a public school. That’s a definite support we will have for families.”

“We don't use the free and reduced-price lunch rate in our socioeconomic-climate calculations,” said G. Scott Thomas, projects editor for Buffalo Business First. “But, the youth poverty rate is a major factor, which works in Voorheesville's favor, since its poverty rate is the lowest in all of upstate New York.”

Asked how the district addresses issues faced by the 3.7 percent of students who are identified as living in poverty, Hunt said that, in addition to school meals, Voorheesville provides counseling, guidance, support, and social work.

Voorheesville also offers opportunities for college scholarships, Hunt said.

“We definitely want to provide these supports,” he said.

Academics linked to resources

In academics, Voorheesville’s ranking was 25 of 431 upstate schools analyzed by Business First. Other local ranks were: Shenendehowa, 24; Guilderland, 18; North Colonie, 15; Niskayuna, 12; and Bethlehem, 6.

The paper’s frequently-asked-questions page states that Buffalo Business First ranks schools because “a large number of our readers are employers, even more are parents, and all of them are taxpayers. They have a big stake in Western New York's schools.”

“Business First has rated school districts across upstate New York ever since 2011,” Thomas said in an email. “It was a logical extension, we felt, of the rankings that we were already producing for the Buffalo and Rochester areas.

“We also produce specialized ratings, such as our socioeconomic climate ratings,” he continued, “in order to illuminate other aspects of each district's operations. It's important to note that specialized ratings have no impact on a district's academic rank.”

Hunt said that Voorheesville, a small rural suburban district, is different from its local neighbors.

“They are larger districts, larger in terms of property tax base,” he said. “Voorheesville is largely residential...Our tax base is more residential in nature,” Hunt said.

He offered “a word of caution” about the Business First rankings: “You can’t take all of that as absolute gospel,” he said.

Indeed, the Albany Business Review this week ranked Voorheesville first among 84 Capital Region school districts for math scores, largely based on elementary school standardized test scores. (See the full story on Voorheesville’s report card at www.AltamontEnterprise.com)

“During the 2013-14 school year,” the Albany Business Review wrote, “73 percent of its students in grades 3, 4, and 5 scored a 3 or 4 [on a scale from 1 to 4] on statewide tests. That's more than 30 percent above the state average, and more than 9 percent better than any other district in the region.”

Voorheesville is careful about “overburdening” taxpayers, Hunt said. North Colonie’s heavy commercial and industrial areas relieve the tax burden from residential taxpayes, he said, which is “a fact not reflected in the ranking. We have to put the burden on homeowners.”

Voorheesville’s wealth is evident in some of its newer buildings and facilities, but other parts of district properties are run down, like wings of the high school, or closed entirely, like the footbridge near the elementary school.

In the case of older-model window air-conditioning units installed in classrooms, for example, Hunt said, “We try to put something in place that will work and be cost-effective…to provide the best education for students and be fiscally responsible.

“The district facilities are very good,” he said. Hunt returned to the district this month after many years working in other districts.

“Coming back, I was impressed at the improvements” to the facilities, he said. The elementary school building is in “fine shape,” he said, and taxpayers voted to replace the footbridge.

Taking care of a school district is “constant maintenance,” Hunt said. “It’s like owning a home.”