This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Texas and examines how school choice could provide large public benefi ts by increasing graduation rates in Texas public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in Texas caused by reduced tax revenue, increased Medicaid costs and increased incarceration costs. It then examines how competition from private schools already raises public school graduation rates and calculates the dollar value of the public benefi ts that would follow from increasing Texas's public school graduation rates by enacting even a modest school choice program.
For complete study: sp20070101.pdf