As Troy City School’s graduation rate continues to improve, school officials keep “pushing forward,” the superintendent said Monday.

“Our (2014) graduation rate went to 87 percent, an improvement from 85 percent last year,” Dr. Lee Hicks told school board members during Monday’s meeting. “Now, the work continues to get to 88 percent, then 90 percent … we’re always going to be pushing forward.”

The graduation rate, which was released in December 2014, is slightly head of the state average, which was 86 percent.

Hicks thanked Dr. Boyd English, Charles Henderson High School principal, and the administrators and faculty at the school for working to improve the rate. “There’s no doubt in my mind we have the right group of administrators,” he said.

State Department of Education officials released the graduation rates in December, reporting the 86 percent graduation rate statewide. The rate is ahead of schedule on the Plan 2020, which calls for a statewide graduation rate of 90 percent by the year 2020.

In other business on Monday, the Troy City Schools Board:

• Heard a resolution declaring January “School Board Appreciation Month.”

• Approved the retirement of Martha Freeman, Charles Henderson Middle School nutrition manager, effective Feb. 1.

• Approved the financial statement. Utilities expenses for October 2014 were $37,580.13, a 10 percent decrease from the same period in 2013. Sales tax revenues for October 2014 were $249,344.25, a 4.4 percent decrease from the prior year. However, CFO Mickey Daughtrey reported that sales tax revenues as a whole are increasing by about 3 percent a year. “In 2013 we collected $2.8 million, in $2014 it was $2.9 million,” he said. “It’s slowly edging back up.”