"It's the economy, stupid"

Students of color made up a sizable portion of the estimated 600,000 students who dropped out from the Class of 2008 in the nation's forty-five largest metropolitan areas, according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education.

The discouraging totals: 113,600 African American, 200,000 Latino, 3,750 American Indian, and 30,800 Asian American students are estimated to have dropped out from the class.

That's 348,000 individuals who have been reduced to low-paying jobs, likely unemployment, high rates of incarceration and criminal victimization. 

But this isn't just an issue of race, class or social justice. It's an economic issue. And it's a big one, at that.

All told, the dropouts within this one class of new graduates could have produced enormous benefits for their local economies — if they'd stayed in school to get their high school diploma.

Together, their additional spending would likely have generated 17,450 new jobs and boost the gross regional products of these areas by as much as $3.1 billion by the time they reach the midpoint of their careers, according to the report. And as a result of their increased wages and higher levels of spending, state and local tax revenues within these regions would likely grow by as much as $249.7 million during an average year.

Put simply: There is no better bang for your buck than funding programs that keep kids in school. And many of these programs pay for themselves. In the short-term per-pupil funding increases with each student schools can bring back into the fold. In the long-run, as described in the Alliance's brilliant report, increased tax revenue (and decreased social service and incarceration costs) more than refills the coffers.

The question should no longer be: "Can we afford to pay for dropout prevention and recovery?" It should be: "Can we afford not to?"