In February, JLF released a report that was critical of dropout prevention grants funded by the NC General Assembly. For example, I pointed out the following facts about a few of the grant recipients:
? Polk County received a $100,000 grant despite having one of the highest graduation rates and one of the lowest dropout rates in the state, 82.0 percent and 3.45 percent, respectively.
? Wake County had a 79.3 percent graduation rate and a dropout rate (4.21 percent) considerably lower than the state average (5.24 percent), but received four grants totaling nearly $450,000.
? Athens Drive High School in Wake County had an 82.7 percent graduation rate, which exceeded the state and district average, and had fewer dropouts than eight other Wake County high schools, but the school still received nearly $40,000 in grant money.
? John T. Hoggard High School in New Hanover County received $105,000, while having the highest graduation rate of any grant recipient, 86.7 percent, and the fewest dropouts of any high school in New Hanover County, 76 students.
Legislators got the hint. For their second round of grants, they inserted new language into the bill, specifying that “Priority for grants shall be given to programs that would serve students in local schools that have a four-year cohort graduation rate of less than sixty-five percent (65%)…”
I do not expect the second round of grants to be any better than the first, but, at least, money may go where there is an actual dropout problem.
