After much anticipation, the four-year graduation rate was released today.

The statewide rate is 68 percent. That means that 32 out of every 100 students do not graduate from high school in four years. Wake County’s graduation rate is 83 percent and Charlotte-Mecklenburg scored a 75 percent. For our friends in Lee County, I am sorry to report that their four-year graduation rate was 64 percent.

At long last, the era of North Carolina?s near perfect graduation rate is over.

State education superintendent June Atkinson said it best. When asked about the four-year graduation rate last year, she said, “We’re failing a third of our kids is what it means.”