By Mark Scott
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-889898.mp3
Buffalo, NY – More students in New York are graduating within four years. But state education officials say the fact that just under 30 percent of students are not finishing high school is "unacceptable."
The State Board of Regents released a report Tuesday that shows nearly 72 percent of the students who entered the ninth grade in 2005 graduated on schedule in June of last year. In Buffalo, the four-year graduation rate is much lower at 53 percent. Twenty-three percent of the students who entered city high schools in 2005 had dropped out by last June.
But State Education Commissioner David Steiner said for other students, a fifth year of high school makes all the difference. Among all New York students who started ninth grade in 2004, he says 77 percent had graduated by 2009.
Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said, "It is clear to me and to the Regents that the margin between what we are achieving and what can be achieved is far too great - and that we cannot accept business as usual."
The State School Boards Association responded to the graduation report by saying now is not the time for state government to reduce its aid to local school districts. Doing so, the Association said, would be short-sighted and could lead to lower graduation rates.