The Alliance for Excellent Education released new research showing that reducing high school dropout rates would increase economic growth in urban areas and state and local tax revenues.  The full text of the article can be found here.

On November 18, the Alliance for Excellent Education released new research showing that the U.S. urban economy would grow significantly if the number of high school dropouts were cut in half in the nation’s fifty largest cities.

Almost 600,000 high school students dropped out of the Class of 2008 in the nation’s fifty largest cities and the surrounding areas. The Alliance’s research shows that, if just half of those students had graduated, they would have earned a total of more than $4.1 billion in additional annual income. Los Angeles, at $575 million a year, would see the largest increase while Wichita, at $11.5 million would see the lowest.

In addition to the income gains, yearly state and local tax revenues in these cities would jump by a total of nearly $536 million. New York City would see the biggest increase with $92 million while Wichita, at $1.5 million, would see the lowest.