Ranked 16th out of the state's 67 school districts, Bay District no longer has any schools at "C" or "D" level. Teachers say they're pleased with the results.

"I think the teachers are doing a wonderful job and doing all they can, and I think it really shows. The FCAT scores show how great of a job they're doing," said Melissa Sexton, a Bay County substitute teacher.

The only schools that dropped this year were at the elementary level. Callaway and Waller went from "A’s" last year to "B’s" in 2008. Parker and Springfield dropped to "C's."

The district's middle schools have all moved up to A level, except for Everitt, which remained a "C school." Last year none of Bay County's high schools achieved an "A" ranking. This year both Mosley and Bozeman reached that level. The others are all B's, which is a significant improvement for Rutherford, but the news is not all rosy. Despite these improvements, Bay district is facing $20 million in budget cuts for the upcoming year. That raises concerns as to whether the schools can maintain these high scores.

"We will have an expectation as high as it's always been, and what we've maintained through this budget process is to say that we will have the least negative impact on the classroom level, so hopefully we will maintain those same great scores that we received this time," said James McCalister, Bay County School Superintendent.

Alternative schools are ranked differently then other schools. They are graded based on reading and math gains from one year to the next. This year A.D. Harris is ranked as an improving school, Emerald Bay as maintaining, and Haney High as declining.

Bay isn't the only school district in our area with good news. For the first time, Holmes County earned an "A" grade. Other counties scoring district-wide A's are Calhoun, Gulf, Okaloosa and Walton. Jackson and Liberty both earned "B's."

Some concerns are for Washington County, which received a district grade of "C". They only had one school that individually scored an A, which was Vernon Elementary. Franklin's schools performed poorly, receiving all C’s or less. The district received an overall C grade. Franklin County elementary central campus received a score of F.

The full report of schools is available at http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/