This year's state budget talks have included a lot of discussion about how districts spend the money they receive from the state. A lot of that has been about which individual schools get resources, but there is also a push to increase spending on a specific program: advanced placement classes. The federal government used to cover testing fees for low-income students, but that stopped in 2017. And now the College Board, which runs the Advanced Placement program, says they have seen a drop in participation in high-needs districts. So the board, along with students and teachers, is asking the state to step up because these classes not only look good on a college application, they can actually count as college credit. Joining us to explain more are Rich Bader, an adjunct professor at UAlbany who runs a career exploration program in the Capital Region, Kassidy Berger, a high school senior from Rensselaer County, and Michael O'Sullivan, Senior Director of Government Relations for the College Board.