It’s no secret the Litchfield School District has fallen on hard financial times.

But so far, the district has been able to weather the storm and avoid cutting program offerings or increasing class sizes.

“The students coming through the system (today) have the same opportunities as kids eight years ago,” Superintendent Bill Wold said last week.

When the Minnesota Department of Education released its 2008 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment data last month, education officials touted the big increase in reading proficiency among 10th graders.

The state reported a 9 percent proficiency increase among high school sophomores, resulting in 71 percent of students meeting or exceeding state reading standards.

When the 2008 general election comes around Nov. 4, Litchfield School District residents may be asked to open their wallets.

The Litchfield School Board is expected to consider asking voters to approve a larger excess operating levy to give the district a boost in revenue.

District administrators will conduct a levy presentation at Monday’s meeting to give School Board members a better view of the district’s financial picture.

Summer might be the ideal time for students to sleep in and enjoy lazy afternoons, but that doesn’t mean learning must end.

Several students at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Junior-Senior High School spent a week in June learning the ins and outs of landscaping. The teens volunteered their time to make a new patio outside the school, doing everything from picking out the plants to building the benches.

The landscape project on the west side of the junior-senior high school in Grove City was organized through the school’s 21st Century Learning grant.

Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment data is in, and local school administrators are breaking down the highlights and lowlights of this year’s test data.

Most area school districts made positive strides in math and reading proficiency.

The price of a corn dog or a chicken patty will cost parents more next year.

The Litchfield School Board voted to raised breakfast and lunch meals by a dime for the 2008-09 school year. The increase is the result of anticipated rises in food prices.

“I feel there’s going to be a raise in food prices due to the increase in delivery raises because of fuel prices,” business manager Todd Swanson said Monday.

The Litchfield Marching Dragons are tallying up the wins.

In its first competition of the year, Litchfield scored 77.2 points June 14 at the Buffalo Days parade to secure first in its clas. The band, which also won best colorguard, came up just short to grand champion Park Center, which tallied 79 points.

The Minnesota Department of Education announced today that nearly 90 percent of Minnesota ninth-graders pass the Writing Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma.

“We are pleased that Minnesota students have performed so well on the Writing GRAD,” Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said. “We hope this assessment provides educators with a starting point for improving every student’s writing skills.”

All four local school districts scored above the state average of 89.5 percent.

When Richard Matson started as Lake Ripley Elementary school librarian in 1971, a card catalog was still a chest of drawers with titles of books arranged by author and topic.

Reel-to-reel video recorders were the newest gadget of the day. And personal computers in libraries were still a decade away.

Matson, a media specialist at Litchfield High School and Middle School, has seen many changes in his 37 years in the school system, especially when it comes to his work in the library.

The Minnesota Department of Education announced today that 75 percent of Minnesota 10th-graders met the state’s new, more rigorous, reading graduation requirement.  MDE also announced that 71 percent of Minnesota 10th-graders are proficient on the Reading MCA-II, a nine percent increase from last year.