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  Many people are stunned to learn that only 58 percent of children graduate high school in Florida. The statistics for minority children are even lower, with a graduation rate of 43 percent for African American students in Florida. (Source: Education Week’s Diplomas Count 2009).
Few would question the fact that life prospects for dropouts are bleak; they are consigned to a life of low wages, lost opportunities and even prison. In 2008-09 there were 217,000 ninth graders in Florida. Based on the current rate, roughly 87,000 of them won’t graduate. That’s the population of the city of Gainesville dropping out every year.
Dropouts earn less and experience a poorer quality of life than those who graduate. Individuals without a high school diploma are far more likely to spend their lives periodically unemployed, on government assistance or cycling in and out of the prison system. The state’s dropout rate also has a negative economic impact on our communities, state and the nation. When a state has a low graduation rate, there are significant impacts to the communities and states in which they live, and the society as a whole suffers. By any measure, this is a crisis.
But how to solve it? The answer is to find the right learning environment for each student. Florida’s K-12 student population is almost incomprehensibly diverse — for example, more than 100 languages are spoken in the Miami-Dade County schools. Expecting a “one size fits all” delivery system to work in today’s Florida is unrealistic. Parents must be empowered to choose the best school for their children, whether it is a traditional public school, a magnet or charter school, or even a private school. Only through a diverse array of delivery options will we be able to solve the dropout crisis.
When a school fails to meet the needs of a child, wealthier parents can afford to send their child to a private school, or move to a better school district. Unfortunately, low-income families do not have this same option. Educational option programs give economically disadvantaged families and parents of special needs children the opportunity to find the schools that can best prepare their children for a successful future.
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Each year nearly 95,100 students in Florida do not graduate with their peers...
- Dropouts from the class of 2006 cost the state more than $24.7 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.
- If Florida’s likely dropouts from the class of 2006 graduated instead, the state could save more
than $1.4 billion in Medicaid and expenditures for uninsured care over the course of those young people’s lifetimes.
- If Florida’s high schools and colleges raise the graduation rates of Hispanic, African-American, and Native-American students to the levels of white students by 2020, the potential increase in personal income would add more than $14.6 billion to the state economy.
- Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students in Florida by only 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $507 million each year by reducing crime-related costs.
Source: Alliance For Excellence in Education "Understanding High School Graduation Rates in Florida" June 2007
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