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Community banks on Say Yes to Education to boost Syracuse graduation rates

Syracuse, NY -- The budget is shrinking and layoffs by the hundreds are under way, but the Syracuse school district will spend more next year on the Say Yes to Education strategy to improve the schools.

While cutting roughly 470 jobs, the district plans to spend $5 million from its $334 million budget on Say Yes plus another $5 million in grant money.

The community, it seems, is banking more than ever on Say Yes to Education Inc. to cure a graduation rate of less than 50 percent.

Say Yes, a nonprofit corporation, has organized a network of public and private sources to flood the schools with extra services. Most of the money covers social workers, after-school and summer-school programs at the elementary level and more pre-kindergarten classes.

Since 2007, the partnership has directed roughly $40 million in cash and in-kind services. That includes $17 million from Say Yes itself.

That amount far exceeds the money raised for Say Yes’ more public aspect: its pledge to provide college tuition for almost every city graduate. Even Kevin Ahern, president of Syracuse Teachers Association , whose members are losing their jobs, supports the money for Say Yes. Ahern says city kids and city teachers need the help.

“It’s providing the services our kids need outside of school that they normally don’t get,” Ahern said. “It’s the wraparound services and taking away those barriers to academic success. You know, it’s the social workers, it’s the after-school time, it’s the legal clinics, the mental health clinics that are going to be up and running.

“Those things represent our frustrations as educators because we’ve never been able as a system to deal with those.”

The major partners are the school district, local governments and Syracuse University. SU Chancellor Nancy Cantor was instrumental in bringing Say Yes to the city schools. Many of the Say Yes staff are employed by SU, which receives money for the salaries from Say Yes.

Some of the investment is new money, some is existing money used differently and some is money that pays for established programs pulled under the Say Yes umbrella.

The district says it has spent about $6.5 million from its general fund and $7.8 million in mostly grant money on Say Yes since 2008.

The cost planned for next year is $13 million, with $3 million from Say Yes.

The district’s share of the cost increases every year. So far, the nonprofit is helping, but the agreement calls for the district to shoulder the entire cost by 2013-14.

Syracuse iSchool Associate Professor Jason Dedrick featured in

Over the past few years, there has been much debate over the pros and cons of a globalized economy. Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool) Associ ate Professor Jason Dedrick has been researching the influence that innovative industries have on globalization. Dedrick worked with Greg Linden from the University of California, Berkley and Kenneth Kraemer of the University of California, Irvine to develop a case study on the iPod for the International Trade Commission, which was recently featured in The Huffington Post . Dedrick and his colleagues found that in a globalized economy, innovation industries benefit American workers and the American economy more than other countries. The report reached two key conclusions: "Most of the high-paying jobs in the iPod value chain are still in the United States, even though more jobs overall are offshore" and, "the total wages paid to the U.S. workers are more than double those paid overseas." According to Dedrick, Apple relies on workers in the United States to fill the higher-paying research, development and engineering jobs. The report estimates that in 2006, Apple workers received more than $1 billion in earnings. $750 million of this went to U.S. employees. As countries around the world improve their technology and education, it is possible that these high paying jobs may be outsourced; however Dedrick believes manufacturers are the ones in trouble. Jason Dedrick is an Associate Professor at the iSchool. His research interests include the globalization of information technology, the economic and organizational impacts of IT, national IT policy, the offshoring of innovation and knowledge work, and Green IT. Prior to coming to the iSchool, he was senior research fellow at the University of California, Irvine. He is co-director of the Personal Computing Industry Center , sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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