BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo's graduation rates were slightly up last year, but still well behind the rest of the state.
The New York State Department of Education says 64.7 percent of Buffalo students who entered ninth grade in 2015 graduated. That was a slight increase from the year before, when the number was at 64.5 percent.
Statewide, the graduation rate was over 83 percent.
Buffalo also had larger gaps between white students and black or Hispanic students than any other of the large-city school districts across the state.
Buffalo Public Schools issued a statement about the statewide numbers on Thursday, expressing both disappointment and hope.
"I am disappointed that our graduation rate did not rise more significantly in 2019," Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash said in the statement. "With 78% of our schools in good standing, I know we have the strong leadership, hard-working staff, dedicated parents, and talented students to have done so. I fully expect that we will meet our 4-year graduation rate goal of 70% with our class of 2020.
"With the comprehensive array of supports provided to all of our students by the Education Bargain, Say Yes Buffalo, and with five of our new innovative high schools graduating their first classes this June, I am confident that we will get there this year and lead the state in graduation rate improvement.”