New graduation rates are out

Mar 21, 2024

With help from Irie Sentner

New York City school buses | AP Photo

New York’s high school graduation rates for the past school year show little change from the previous year and continued racial disparities. | AP Photo

New York’s high school graduation rates for the past school year are in. And they show little change from the previous year, as well as with continued racial disparities.

In 2023, the state had a high school graduation rate of 86.4 percent, according to data released today by the state Education Department. That is less than one percent lower than last year's rate of 87 percent. The department noted that many of the students in the 2023 graduating class entered high school in 2019 at the start of the pandemic.

Over the past decade, the state has seen a graduation rate increase of 7.3 percent. Department spokesperson J.P. O’Hare said the department is hopeful that implementing changes recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission – a group of education professionals tasked with creating new graduation standards for the state – will help to put the state back on its upwards trajectory.

“The recommendations will help us create a more inclusive learning environment while maintaining rigor and enhancing critical thinking skills, putting all students on a trajectory for success and ensuring they’re prepared for college, career, and civic readiness in the 21st century and beyond,” O’Hare said in a statement.

Racial disparities in the students earning a diploma also continued. White students had a graduation rate of 91 percent, while it was 82 percent for Black students and 81 percent for Hispanic students. Migrants, English language learners and students in foster care had the lowest graduation rates.

All but one of the state’s Big Five school districts had graduation rates below the state average. Buffalo had a rate of 79 percent; Rochester had a 67 percent graduation rate; Syracuse had a 69 percent rate; and Albany had a 77 percent rate. Yonkers was above the state average with a 90 percent graduation rate.

Meanwhile, New York City had a high school graduation rate of 83.7 percent and a 5.4 percent dropout rate, consistent with last year’s rates, according to schools Chancellor David Banks. The city has seen a 23-point increase in graduation rates as well as decreases in the dropout rate over the past 15 years under the system of mayoral control of city schools, which expires this year, he said.

New York City has long struggled to close graduation rate gaps between races, but Banks noted progress has been made for Black and Hispanic students in recent years.

The gap between Black and white students dropped from 18.9 points to 9.5 points between 2008 and 2023, and 21.5 points to 9.8 points between Hispanic and white students.

“This continued triumph would not be possible without our current governance structure,” Banks said in a statement, arguing mayoral control of city schools has streamlined decision-making and led to key initiatives like a reading curriculum mandate. “Before mayoral accountability, graduation rates hovered around an abysmal 50 percent.”

This marks the latest push by Banks to make the case for granting Mayor Eric Adams a four-year extension. He surprised observers recently when he declared that he has “no interest’ in serving as chancellor if Adams does not retain control of the school system. – Katelyn Cordero and Madina Touré

From the Capitol

The New York state Capitol is seen from the steps of the State Education Building in Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Assembly Democrats were told Gov. Kathy Hochul is sticking by the her school funding formula change during budget negotiations. | Hans Pennink/AP

CLASSROOM STRUGGLES: The debate over how to revamp the formula that governs school district funding was one of the primary issues raised today in the Assembly Democrats’ closed-door conference, two people familiar with the talks said.

Assembly Democrats, who have been meeting in a hearing room in the Legislative Office Building, were told Hochul is sticking by the change so far during negotiations. If approved, it would lead to funding reductions for about half the school districts in the state because their enrollment has fallen.

But lawmakers and Hochul are also weighing how to update the formula without penalizing districts in the process.

Top Democrats in the Legislature have opposed the change and have pointed to struggling school districts that would be hurt if the provision is approved. Hochul has privately and publicly pointed to the millions of dollars in reserves schools have amassed over the last several years, which she believes could cushion the blow.

Concerns over Hochul’s push to end the “hold harmless” provision in the budget – which prohibits schools from aid cuts – is one of the biggest pressure points facing state lawmakers this year, uniting both Democrats and Republicans. The budget is due to pass by April 1. — Nick Reisman

CHANGING THE MTA BOARD: Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz are hoping to pass a bill aimed at increasing rider representation on the MTA board.

Currently, the MTA board is made up of 23 members, 17 of whom can vote and six who cannot. The body makes critical decisions — often to the tune of billions of dollars — on capital projects, service changes and fare adjustments.

But, according to Gounardes, the only members of the board that actually act on behalf of riders are the three non-voting members elected by the rider councils for NYC transit, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North. (Three other non-voting members from labor groups also serve on the board).

The three rider representatives are also the only board members required to actually ride public transit. The bill would give them voting power. It would also create a new voting member that advocates on behalf of the disability community.

But the bill has been around for several years and has never made it to the floor in either chamber, likely because it would limit the governor’s power over the board.

Gounardes is fighting for it anyway.“Because they ride the system every day, they should have just as much skin in the game as everyone else who makes decisions about the transit system that they depend on,” he said. — Jason Beeferman

FROM CITY HALL

Eric Adams is sworn in as the 110th mayor of New York City.

Tim Pearson, standing behind Mayor Eric Adams at his swearing-in ceremony, is accused of sexual harassment by a retired NYPD sergeant. | Getty Images

ADAMS AIDE ACCUSED: A retired NYPD sergeant accused Tim Pearson, one of Mayor Eric Adams’ most trusted confidants, of sexual harassment, alleging inappropriate touching and unwanted advances in a court complaint filed Thursday, POLITICO reports.

POLITICO has also reported that Pearson, a senior adviser to Adams and retired NYPD inspector, has operated in relative obscurity while earning high salaries and held up the opening of a Brooklyn migrant shelter to help a friend get a contract.

In her civil suit against him, the woman alleges that in 2022 and 2023, Pearson regularly touched women when he talked with them, held inappropriate conversations with her and then retaliated by blocking her professional advancement after she rejected his sexual overtures.

The lawsuit comes in the same week that a separate, more detailed complaint of sexual assault was filed against Adams himself. He has denied the charges.

An Adams spokesperson referenced Pearson’s “long and distinguished career” and said the complainant did not cooperate in an earlier City Hall investigation of her allegations. — Emily Ngo

BUS STOP: Other Texas-based charter bus companies are considering a pause in transporting migrants to New York City, similar to the court stipulation between Adams’ administration and one of the 17 businesses he sued, City Hall chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack told reporters today.

Roadrunner Charters had agreed this week to halt bussing migrants from the southern border to New York City and neighboring areas as the city’s lawsuit against bus companies for $700 million to support migrants plays outs, POLITICO reported.

“This is an early sign of success in this suit and shows the tools that we’re using to manage this crisis are, in fact, working,” Joseph Varlack said.

The busing is part of Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s strategy to shift the responsibility and cost of caring for newcomers to Democrat-run cities. Abbott’s team has told Playbook they plan to continue sending migrants north. — Emily Ngo

On the Beats

Jim Tedisco.

Republican Sen. Jim Tedisco and Democratic Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon are promoting a bill that would expand the state’s 20 percent investment tax credit to cover the construction of housing on New York farms. | Mike Groll/AP

EXPANDING A TAX CREDIT: Democrats and Republicans are calling to expand a tax credit that an independent audit found brings in one of the lousiest returns on investment of any state tax break.

In a show of bipartisanship, Republican Sen. Jim Tedisco and Democratic Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon are promoting a bill that would expand the state’s 20 percent investment tax credit to cover the construction of housing on New York farms.

Currently, the credit only applies to businesses that make investments in buildings, machinery, or equipment and doesn’t address residential housing for farm workers.

But the call to expand the tax credit also comes as most of the state’s tax credit programs have come under heightened scrutiny after an independent audit published earlier this year.

The audit showed the majority of the state’s tax credit programs offer a bad return on investment for the state. The report found that the Income Investment Tax Credit earns among the lowest return on investment of any state program – it brings in 2 cents in direct taxes for every dollar invested by the state.

However, the investment tax credit was analyzed across a variety of industries, and the auditors said they couldn’t disaggregate the data to study industries, like agriculture, individually.

In an interview, Tedisco pushed back on the idea that the sought-after expansion of the tax credit would be a bad deal for the state.

Tedisco said providing a benefit for construction of affordable housing is unrelated to the current types of credits offered by the incentive, so the past poor performance of the tax credit isn’t applicable.

“They’ll be investing back in the community with the income taxes and sales taxes in the purchases now that they have job funding and an affordable house,” he said. — Jason Beeferman

ENDING FOSSIL FUEL TAX BREAKS: As state policymakers search under the couch cushions for revenue to fund a host of priorities, environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers want to end tax breaks for some fossil fuels.

New York’s tax code is riddled with exemptions for fossil fuel use — to the tune of $1.6 billion annually. Much of that is for home heating fuels or other politically sensitive constituencies like farmers.

But a scaled down version of a bill to end all the exemptions (S3389) is included in the Senate budget. Assemblymember Jo Ann Simon, the sponsor of the bill, said she’s pushing it with Assembly negotiators as a revenue raiser.

“This is not about raising taxes,” Simon said. “This is about eliminating a tax exemption to folks who are completely misaligned with our state climate goals and mandates.”

The scaled-back measure targets tax breaks for commercial airline fuel and highly polluting “bunker” fuel used in the shipping industry, among others. It would increase state revenue by about $256 million.

“We're working very hard on the Assembly side to get this to the table to ensure that, as this is being discussed in the negotiations, that the Assembly is open and having those conversations,” Simon said. “They've indicated to me that they're willing to do that.”

Ending the exemptions is supported by a coalition of groups dubbed the “Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act Coalition” including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Climate Reality Project and NYPIRG.

“The current bill really touches on some of the worst greenhouse gas emitting fuels,” said NRDC director of New York State government affairs Rich Schrader. — Marie J. French

NYC IMMIGRANT WORKFORCE NOT GROWING: A new report from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli shows the size of the city’s immigrant workforce has remained flat over the past decade.

From 2015 through 2023, the nation’s population of foreign-born workers grew 18.5 percent, but New York City’s population decreased by 0.6 percent.

The drop in the immigrant workforce comes as New York City is facing an unprecedented influx of asylum-seekers, most of whom are waiting for work authorizations to enter the city’s labor market.

“There are still many barriers for individuals who come to the U.S. looking for work and a better life,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Federal immigration policy must be reformed to ensure that the economic prosperity that foreign-born workers have helped fuel in New York City can continue.” — Jason Beeferman

AROUND NEW YORK

— Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro may or may not be moonlighting as a politically-attuned and in-character Mary Poppins through a burner social media account. (The Daily Beast)

— Manhattan’s largest school board district approved a resolution demanding the city’s Department of Education allow a public review of its policy allowing transgender girls to play women’s sports. (New York Post)

— Emma Liu, the ex-wife of the Chinese billionaire who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions to three political candidates, served on Adams’ Asian Affairs Advisory Council under Winnie Greco, whose homes were raided by the FBI last month. (THE CITY, co-published with Documented)