The Chronicle

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: News
Last update: 11/1/07 at 8:16 AM EST

Media Credit: Kaitlin Solera Durham Public Schools and county social services are forming an alliance to fight increasing dropout rates.

Each year, high school dropouts cost the state of North Carolina more than $873 million in prison costs, health care expenses and lost tax revenue, nonprofit organization Parents for Education in North Carolina said in a study released last Thursday.

The study, "The High Costs of Low Graduation Rates in North Carolina," coincides with renewed efforts to reform struggling public schools in Durham and around the state. It aims to demonstrate that the cost of dropping out extends beyond the individual, said Brian Gottlob, author of the study and a senior fellow at the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation.

"Dropouts have a social cost," he said. "It's not just about whether your own kids graduate. We all pay a price for the kids who leave."

Gottlob's study estimates that dropouts' low earnings and high unemployment siphon more than $700 million out of North Carolina's tax revenue each year. Dropouts are more than twice as likely as graduates to be incarcerated and more than a third rely on Medicaid, the federal government's health care program for low-income individuals.

In Durham, fighting dropouts has inspired an alliance between county social services and public school administrators.

"Our drop-out rate is a call to action," said Ellen Reckhow, chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners. "We need to reach out and embrace the children in our community who need our help."

The commissioners and the Durham Board of Education are working to provide support to students that extends beyond the classroom, she said.

"Many of our students come to us with needs outside of the academic realm," said Board of Education member Heidi Carter, Trinity '83. "There's a lot of poverty in Durham and that brings with it many challenges."

Forty-six percent of students in the Durham Public Schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, the primary statistical tool districts use to estimate low income. Two-thirds of Durham students graduate in four years, putting the district on par with the state average.

The county's official dropout reduction plan focuses on expanding access to mentoring services, providing alternative schools that offer flexible hours and job training and increasing focus on early childhood education. The board's goal is to achieve a 100-percent graduation rate by 2013.

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