Each Thursday, we put one of our local newsmakers On The Spot. This week: Assemblyman Gary D. Finch

This week's question: You spoke on education reform during your 2006 campaign. What tangible work have you personally accomplished in this area?

One of the criteria used to measure the success of a school district is graduation rates. As we take a look at the graduation rates for the school district in our backyard, the Auburn Enlarged City School District, we have to do some serious reflection on why Auburn High School's rates are at 65 percent and how we can formulate a plan to increase them.

This year school aid spending increased 8.8 percent in the New York state budget, which puts us at $21.05 billion, far above any other state in the United States. That means that we spend approximately $14,884 per student in the State of New York. With all of this money being spent we are ranked 42nd in the country for statewide graduation rates.

The Auburn City School District is participating in the Contract for Excellence, or C4E, program and the main initiative with its contract is the “School within a School” graduation plan. This program identifies at-risk students, particularly at the elementary and middle school levels, and places them in smaller classes with attention emphasized on their needs. This graduation plan has the potential to triumph, if it's not bogged down by the bureaucracy that C4E is already being dragged into.

One prime piece of legislation I co-sponsored was the establishment of the “Successful Schools” and “Schools of Tomorrow” awards programs. These programs would award school districts that increase their English language arts and math assessments combined with increasing high school graduation rates, with grants. Instead of punishing schools that do not produce sustained academic excellence, this program rewards schools that show excellence. These programs seem to have fallen on deaf ears in Albany. It's time for some serious work on this issue.

The best economic development programs will fail unless we cultivate an educated and trained workforce. Recently we have seen some very important steps in the direction of educating and training our future workforce. The expansion of the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES program and the great work of the New Visions courses are two excellent examples.

I have been speaking consistently on education issues and now it seems people are starting to listen. The best hope we have right now is the C4E.

If you have an On The Spot question, call news editor Mike Dowd at 253-5311 ext. 234 or

e-mail michael.dowd@lee.net