Jackson Free Press

Jackson Public Schools reported a drop-out rate of 24.3 percent in 2009, up from 17.6 in 2008. Statewide, Mississippi's 2009 graduating class had a drop-out rate of 16.7 percent, up from 16 percent in 2008, the state Department of Education reported yesterday.

In January 2008, the Mississippi Department of Education launched "On the Bus," a statewide drop-out prevention effort that included two statewide summits and a major public awareness campaign to address the state's ever-rising rate of teens dropping out of school and to set goals for the next five years. 
The dropout rate for Mississippi's class of 2007 was 15.9 percent, and in 2006, the dropout rate was 17.6 percent.

"The Mississippi Board of Education's goal of reducing the state's drop-out rate to 13 percent by 2013 is still an attainable goal," State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tom Burnham said in a statement. "School Districts across the state have adopted programs aimed at keeping students in school and on a path to graduate. Legislation passed over the past few years will also help address this issue."

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Does students dropping out save school districts money? Seems like that could be viewed as a solution to budget woes and teacher lay-offs. The schools have contradictory goals of saving money AND increasing their population that requires more money to be spent. Of course teacher lay-offs make it that much harder to increase retention. They have a goal of drastically increasing retention while taking administrative steps (teacher layoff, shorter school years, increasing class size) that are correlated with reducing retention. Make up your mind Mississippi government!

DrumminD21311

Jul 12 2010