The Business Review is ranking the Albany School District dead last in the Capital Region, but its teachers are No. 1 in pay, with a median salary of more than $70,000 per year. Meanwhile, the district's graduation rate is the area's worst, 47 percent and dropping like a stone, as opposed to 57 percent in Schenectady and 75 percent in Troy. Albany does have excuses, e.g. lots of charter schools skimming off the students with motivated parents, but the numbers are damning nonetheless.
Update: NYSUT is suing the Board of Regents for the first time in almost 40 years because, according to the TU, it objects to "an evaluation system that puts a lot more weight on how a given teacher’s students does [sic] on standardized tests." No doubt many teachers in the Albany district have reason to support their state union's lawsuit.