Dropout data a call to action

Preliminary new figures on school dropout rates inject a pressing issue into the current Albemarle County Board of Supervisors race.
The figures show that, compared to the group that preceded them, nearly three times as many black students who entered ninth grade in 2005 dropped out before reaching graduation.
The 15.2 percent dropout rate for black students, based on early calculations for 2005-09, compares to the 5.4 percent dropout rate for black students for 2004-08.
The dropout rate for black students in Charlottesville improved from 15.4 percent to 14 percent, although it is still higher than the state average for black students, which stands at approximately 12 percent. 
What went wrong in Albemarle?
How can the slide be corrected?
School officials have said in the past that programs implemented to help students graduate will need several years to prove themselves.
And the state’s on-time graduation tracking process — following students from ninth grade through 12th — is only in its second year of collecting data. There is as yet insufficient information to extrapolate trends.
But school districts cannot afford to wait for new trend data before taking action. We have long known of the achievement gap between white and minority students, regardless of the current iteration of that data.
And from any viewpoint, the county’s reversal from better than the state average to worse than average is significant.
This comes at a time when the county is facing serious budget shortfalls from declining revenue. There will be pressure this spring to cut budgets and/or raise taxes to pay for services, including education.
Today, the county is in the waning days of campaigns for several Board of Supervisors seats. Whoever is elected to the board will have power over the amount of money sent to schools for programs such as on-time graduation efforts.
Release of the data also focuses special attention, as area NAACP President M. Rick Turner already has pointed out, on a failed appearance of city and county school superintendents at an NAACP forum.
We accept the superintendents’ explanation that a mix-up in communications led them to believe the event had been cancelled. However, we do wonder why the superintendents have refused subsequent comment about the forum and the non-attendance question. That’s especially relevant in light of the new information, because the very issue of academic achievement vs. dropping out of school likely would have been addressed at the forum.
These issues must be discussed — with black parents and with the taxpaying community at large. And in Albemarle County, the new figures give us compelling reason to do so, at a critical juncture in the democratic process.