Cutting the dropout rate of the Washington area’s class of 2010 would increase their earnings by $153 million in an average year, according to a new analysis. And if just half of the 17,800 dropouts graduated instead, they would support the growth of 750 additional jobs and could increase the metro area’s gross regional product by $191 million by their careers’ midpoints.
The Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy organization run by former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, estimated that these turned-around students would spend $268 million more on home purchases and $7.6 million more on cars than they would without a diploma. Each year, they would invest an additional $47 million and boost state tax revenues by $13 million.
But instead, they’re dropping out like flies.
“It doesn’t matter where you live in the District of Columbia — if there’s a school you won’t send your child to, that tells me you ought to be involved, because every child should get a quality education. But beyond that, that school all the way across town, that you may not even know the name of, the education of those children will directly affect you the taxpayer,” Wise said.
Wise’s group mirrored the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of the Washington area, which stretches past Montgomery and Fairfax counties to Calvert, Frederick and Spotsylvania — a total of 16 counties and six independent cities.
School districts vary in how they calculate their dropout rates. Fairfax County Public Schools reported that 1,091 students, or 1.4 percent of grades 7-12, dropped out during the 2009-2010 school year. Montgomery County puts its dropout rate at 2.72 percent; Maryland estimates Montgomery’s grades 9-12 dropout rate at 2 percent and Prince George’s at 2.9 percent.
While D.C. is revamping its calculations to create a more accurate rate, a letter to then-D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray shows a 6 percent dropout rate for students in grades 7-12 for the 2007-2008 school year. “However, this rate is likely underreported due to inconsistencies in how schools use withdrawal codes,” then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee wrote.
The Alliance for Excellent Education also wrote the well-known report comparing the price of educating a child versus the cost of jailing a criminal.
As of 2006, the nation spent $9,644 on average to educate a student versus $22,600 to house and feed an inmate. D.C. would see annual crime-related savings of $66.5 million if it increased the high school graduation rate for males by 5 percent.
Count in $3.24 million in additional earnings, and the D.C. economy would benefit by $69.74 million.
“It’s going from a negative to a significant plus,” Wise said.
