Albert Lea Area Schools officials said they are able to provide more individualized instruction to students with the district’s decreasing teacher-to-student ratio.

While the district’s student population has dropped from about 4,000 students during the 1994-95 school year to a little more than 3,200 students in the 2015-16 school year, the number of full-time equivalent teachers has grown from 239 to 277.

Superintendent Mike Funk said since he arrived in 2009, district funding has increased from one position to five positions from Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services, a competitive state grant program that funds interventionists.

He said Albert Lea is one of a small group of districts that have been awarded $425,000 annually to help fund instructional coaches, math and reading interventionists, and counselors at the secondary level.

Albert Lea Area Learning Center and targeted services programming and staffing have increased because of a successful program, which results in more funding, Funk said. He noted the district entered an integration collaborative with Austin Public Schools in 2010, which provides funding for non-licensed success coaches who assist families and students.

Albert Lea Area Schools is a Title I school, meaning the school receives federal funding to help improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. District officials set goals in reading and math.

Sibley Elementary was one of Minnesota’s higher performing Title I schools, according to Multiple Measurement Rating data released by the Minnesota Department of Education in September.

The Multiple Measurement Rating measured four categories: proficiency, which looks at student scoring and whether the achievement gap has lessened; growth, which measures students’ growth from one year to the next; academic gap reduction; and graduation rates at the high school level.

Funk said the academic growth of the district’s elementary schools is impressive, noting Albert Lea is in the top third of the conference in reading and math proficiency by third grade.

“This is due to the dedication and focused efforts of our great teaching staff,” he said.

He said though the number of full-time teachers in the district has increased since he became superintendent in 2009, taxes within the district have dropped in the last three years.

He credited the Legislature for helping the district fill its staffing needs while keeping taxes low, noting he will continue to pursue grants and work with the Legislature to narrow the student-to-teacher ratio.

The district worked with truancy officers through Freeborn County this year to reduce truancy and improve school attendance. An additional truancy officer, Alex Routh, is working with Albert Lea High School students and families.