Dropouts Take Toll on San Diego Economy

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 23, 2009 at 8:08 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

SDUSD Superintendent Terry Grier will discuss San Diego's showing in the statewide report on the school dropout rate. The report will quantify the economic impact of dropouts in San Diego.

Maureen Cavanaugh : There are plenty of good reasons to tell high school students to stay in school. Young people need a good education to get a good job, go on to college, and just to have a richer more enjoyable life.

Now it seems there's another good reason to stop kids from dropping out of high school and that is the economic health of the community in which they live. The findings of the California Dropout Research Project show that dropping out of school can result in everything from higher rates of criminal behavior to increased dependence on public assistance. And all of that costs taxpayer money.

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Guest

Terry Grier , Superintendent for San Diego Unified School District.