High school dropout, suspension rates rise

RALEIGH -- More North Carolina students dropped out of public schools last year than any time since 1999-2000, according to a report released this morning.

A total of 23,550 students dropped out in 2006-07, representing 5.24 percent of the state's high school population.

That is the biggest number in seven years and a 4 percent increase in the dropout rate from 2005-06. It also represents the highest dropout rate since 2001-02.

The report, presented today to the state Board of Education, comes at the same time officials are putting a greater emphasis on keeping students in high school.

Another report out today showed that students are also being suspended in larger numbers. Short-term suspensions rose 2.1 percent in 2006-07 over the prior school year. Long-term suspensions were up 2.7 percent.

The results were mixed for Triangle school districts.

The dropout rate went up in Chatham, Johnston and Wake counties. Johnston had the highest rate in the Triangle, with 5.39 percent of high school students dropping out.

The dropout rate fell in Durham and Orange counties and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system.

In Durham, however, the number of students suspended increased by more than 19 percent.

Durham's short-term suspension rate rose to 24.5 suspensions per 100 students, the largest in the Triangle.

The short-term suspension rate rose in Johnston and Orange counties. It stayed the same in Wake and Chapel Hill-Carrboro. The short-term suspension rate fell in Chatham.

Legislators and education officials have been paying more attention to the dropout problem since learning last year that more than 30 percent of high school students aren't graduating. According to the most recent state figures, 69.5 percent of students who entered high school in 2003 graduated by last year.

A report released in October by the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation said students who drop out of school in a single year cost the state's taxpayers $169 million annually in lost sales tax revenue and higher Medicaid and prison costs.

Two new committees formed by the General Assembly are focusing on the dropout problem. Legislators created a 15-member committee of business and education leaders that last month awarded $7 million in dropout prevention grants.

Another group, the Joint Legislative Commission on Dropout Prevention and High School Graduation, will evaluate recipients of the grants to see whether expanding their efforts will help reduce the dropout rate.

Suspension rates also have been a hotly debated issue in the state. While some argue for strict enforcement of discipline to promote a safe learning environment, others complain that it only hurts students to keep them out of the classroom.

The new suspension report shows that, on average, one in 10 students receives an out-of-school suspension each year. As in past years, male students, black and American Indian students, ninth-graders and special-education students are disproportionately represented among suspended students.