North Carolina Is Facing a Crisis in Education:
Too Many Students Are Dropping Out!

The State of North Carolina is facing a crisis with the number of students who are dropping out of school each year. The number of students who are dropping out of school or being suspended and expelled in North Carolina is alarming, but certainly not surprising. Now, thanks to a new focus on how the state reports graduation rates, many citizens who support our schools have come to realize that we have a serious crisis.

While it may be easy to forget about a few kids—after all, a 4.86 percent dropout rate for grades 9-12 as recently reported by the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) doesn't seem all that bad—it becomes a pill more bitter to swallow when one realizes that approximately 40 percent of North Carolina's youth are leaving school without a high school diploma. The wake-up call for action is now, or we will continue to see a rise in the number of children who leave school without the necessary skills and education to either enter the workforce or continue their education.

PAY NOW OR PAY LATER
As taxpayers, we will pay now or later for children who do not have the necessary education for a job that pays a living wage. Education, even alternative education, is much less costly than prisons and welfare.

Here is the economic reality. Dropouts cost the State of North Carolina enormous amounts of lost revenue and tremendous costs in social programs. For instance, a dropout is

• twice as likely to be unemployed,
• three times more likely to commit a crime and end up in our courts,
• and six times more likely to become an unwed teen parent.

Moreover, it is estimated that 75 percent of America's state prison inmates are dropouts at a cost of approximately $25,000 per year, per inmate. The cost of juvenile incarceration is over $60,000 per child per year and many of these youth reenter the criminal courts again and again.

The latest figures from the Council on Economic Advisors show that for each class of dropouts, the average cost of prison, parole and welfare over the adult lifetime averages about $69,000 per young person in that class of dropouts. Accordingly, last year's crop of dropouts in North Carolina will eventually cost the state 1.3 billion dollars in these three categories alone. Moreover, with a diminished earning capacity that is $9,200 less per year than a high school graduate, those same 20,035 dropouts will eventually cost the state $400,000,000 in unrealized taxes.

So, what is the solution?

COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS HELPS KIDS STAY IN SCHOOL!
For the past fifteen years Communities In Schools (CIS) has been helping North Carolina children stay in school and prepare for life. CIS works, and we have the statistics to prove it. Last year,

• 96 percent of North Carolina's CIS students who could have dropped out chose to stay in school,
• 92 percent of our students were promoted to the next grade,
• 91 percent of our seniors graduated,
• 84 percent improved their grades,
• and 84 percent improved their attendance.

Furthermore, statistics show that growing numbers of CIS students (who without CIS would have dropped out), are now graduating from our 4-year colleges, our community colleges, or entering our workforce as contributing employees.

Our challenge is that CIS is only serving about 10 percent of the students who need those services. Without additional funding to sustain and grow programs within our existing CIS communities and to continue to expand into new communities, CIS in North Carolina will never be able to serve all of these children.

It is time that we start funding programs that work.

There are many reasons students drop out of school; some of these reasons are not school related at all. This is where Communities In Schools plays such a vital role. By working with school administrators who are able to identify these children, we then bring in community resources that meet the needs of each student, to help them succeed in school.

Schools and teachers cannot and should not have this extra burden of addressing home and community issues.

Communities In Schools is ready to work with all of our schools, with DPI, and with our community partners to address this serious and growing crisis. It will take all of us working together … business partners, educators, parents, community members, agencies and the students themselves to solve the dropout problem in our state. This is a growing crisis. Time is running out for North Carolina, and the young people of this state need our help.
For more information call (919) 832-2700.