Oregon’s High School Dropouts Cost State $400 Million Annually
For release March 10, 2010
Cascade Policy Institute & Foundation for Educational Choice
Contact
Christina Martin, Education Policy Analyst
Cascade Policy Institute
503-242-0900
christina@cascadepolicy.org
Paul DiPerna, Research Director
Foundation for Educational Choice
317-229-2131
paul@edchoice.org
Oregon’s High School Dropouts Cost State $400 Million Annually
by Christina Martin and Paul DiPerna
PORTLAND—Oregon’s high school dropouts are costing state taxpayers more than $400 million per year, according to a study released today by the Foundation for Educational Choice and Cascade Policy Institute. On average Oregon’s dropouts number 218,000 annually—greater than the state and federal governments’ findings—underscoring the state’s need for more productive schooling options particularly during tough budgetary and economic times.
The study, Oregon’s High School Dropouts: Examining the economic and social costs, finds that Oregon’s dropout rate is resulting in more enrollments in the state’s Medicaid program, higher incarceration rates, and lost state revenue (because of unemployment and lower taxable incomes).
“Oregonians are paying too high of a price for underperforming public schools,” said Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Foundation for Educational Choice. “The enormous cost of these lost opportunities is proof that Oregonians need to upend the status quo of educational failure and try something different like parental school choice.”
Key findings of the report include:











