The High Cost of Low Graduation Rates in North Carolina. School Choice Issues in the State

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The High Cost of Low Graduation Rates in North Carolina. School Choice Issues in the State
Language: English
Authors: Gottlob, Brian J., Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation
Source: Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation. 2007.
Availability: Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation. Available from: Foundation for Educational Choice. One American Square Suite 2420, Indianapolis, IN 46282. Tel: 317-681-0745; Fax: 317-681-0945; e-mail: info@edchoice.org; Web site: http://www.edchoice.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 28
Publication Date: 2007
Document Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Descriptors: High Schools, Private Schools, Taxes, Low Income Groups, At Risk Students, Graduation Rate, Dropout Rate, School Choice, Dropouts, Graduation, High School Students, Economic Impact, Social Services, Institutionalized Persons, Crime, Competition, Public Schools, Income, Public Health, Educational Attainment, Unemployment, Racial Differences, African Americans, Whites, Hispanic Americans, Employment Level, Males
Geographic Terms: North Carolina
Abstract: North Carolina has a dropout crisis--only two thirds of North Carolina high school students graduate. One reason this crisis has not received the attention it deserves is because the state was reporting badly inflated graduation rates (supposedly as high as 97 percent) until it finally adopted a more realistic reporting method earlier this year. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in North Carolina and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits by increasing graduation rates in North Carolina public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in North Carolina caused by lower tax revenue, higher Medicaid costs and higher incarceration costs. It then examines how competition from private schools raises public school graduation rates, and calculates the dollar value of the savings to taxpayers that would follow from increasing North Carolina's public school graduation rates by enacting even a modest school choice program. (Contains 5 figures, 7 tables and 26 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina.]
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2010
Accession Number: ED508497
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:North Carolina has a dropout crisis--only two thirds of North Carolina high school students graduate. One reason this crisis has not received the attention it deserves is because the state was reporting badly inflated graduation rates (supposedly as high as 97 percent) until it finally adopted a more realistic reporting method earlier this year. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in North Carolina and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits by increasing graduation rates in North Carolina public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in North Carolina caused by lower tax revenue, higher Medicaid costs and higher incarceration costs. It then examines how competition from private schools raises public school graduation rates, and calculates the dollar value of the savings to taxpayers that would follow from increasing North Carolina's public school graduation rates by enacting even a modest school choice program. (Contains 5 figures, 7 tables and 26 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina.]