Educators, business tries to curb high school drop out rates; town hall meetings set

Educators joined with business leaders to kick off a statewide tour in Rome today. They want to talk with parents and school officials in an attempt to stem the tide of Georgia's rising high school drop out rate.

Each year more than 90-thousand students drop out of Georgia high schools. That's enough teenagers to fill the Georgia Dome, from the stadium floor to its uppermost seats. With a 70-percent graduation rate, Georgia continues to fall near the bottom of the national rankings, followed by Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Steve Dolinger heads the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. He says the impact of high school drops outs on the state's economy is widespread. "It increases our tax dollars, when you have to increase the social services to support those people not employed, increases our incarceration costs. The other side of it is, we don’t have the employees to put in those jobs."

The Partnership for Excellence in Education continues its series of town hall meetings through the middle of September, with stops in eleven Georgia cities. To find out when the group will be in your area, check the GPB newsblog at gpb.org.