New York is in the midst of a middle-skills job crisis.

When you look at help-wanted listings across our state, the positions being advertised are for computer network specialists, electricians, machinists, welders and high-tech manufacturing workers. We often hear from employers who say many job applicants for skilled labor or high-tech positions lack the necessary skills to do the job. Additionally, we have a significant number of students who do not finish school, or who graduate without the skills to do well in college or the job market.

Providing a Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathway to high school graduation helps solve this problem, but time to act is ticking.

Recently, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said in a radio interview that the board plans to vote in October to change high-school graduation requirements to create multiple ways for students to earn a diploma, including a CTE pathway. Tisch said that a 21st-century economy requires that students be able to show capacities in a variety of areas. This is what we've been hearing, too, from employers, educators and students themselves. Together, we urge the Board of Regents to support the plan next month because there's no time to waste.

Earlier this year, we introduced legislation known as "the 21st Century Initiative" (A.8189C/S.5966C) to help make the CTE pathway to graduation in New York a real option. However, if the Regents act in October as planned on creating new pathways to graduation, the CTE pathway option will be rightfully fast-tracked as an additional pathway to a diploma and a good-paying job.

Offering students a chance to become certified in high school for careers as computer network technicians or FAA-certified airplane repair technicians, or in fields such as nanotechnology, agriculture or natural resources, will significantly increase the high-school graduation rate. In recent years, the rate has been far too low for a state like New York — at or below 75 percent.

There's more good news. The infrastructure for this pathway is already in place. Much of the training for this CTE diploma can be done through existing organizations, such as our BOCES districts. This effort has broad support and great potential to provide a boost to community colleges and other institutions of higher learning. Moreover, the value of a high-school diploma in New York will be strengthened.

Students would graduate from high school ready for an entry-level skilled job or could advance their certification at a two-year or four-year institution.

Creating a CTE diploma will reinforce the bedrock of New York's educational system, help raise graduation rates, help our business owners fill manufacturing and high-tech job vacancies, and lead to a more robust economy in our state.

Together, with educators, business leaders and parents, we urge the Board of Regents to swiftly approve this plan.

David J. Valesky is a Democratic state senator from Oneida. Anthony Brindisi is a Democratic Assembly member from Utica.