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Our School District and Why You Should Care
Highest Dropout Rate in the Area (It Costs Taxpayers Millions)
Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) has the highest dropout rate among area school districts. Only 53.3% of students enrolled in the KCMSD as freshmen graduated as seniors, according to an April 2009 study funded by America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Consequences
High school dropouts earn 56% less than high school graduates and are more likely to be unemployed. Over a lifetime a high school dropout will earn $260,000 less than a high school graduate and contribute $60,000 less in taxes.
High school dropouts are more likely to rely on government services for survival. In Kansas City, they consume millions annually in taxpayer-subsidized services because they lack the skills to secure decent-paying jobs.
A high school dropout is much more likely to commit a crime than a high school graduate. In fact, 75% of inmates in America’s state prisons did not complete high school. The average annual cost of incarcerating an inmate is $29,000 a year, which we pay for in taxes.
Abysmal Academic Performance
Nearly three in four KCMSD students were below grade level in reading and math on standardized achievement tests administered in the spring of 2009. The average ACT score of KCMSD students who took the college entrance exam was 16.8; a score of 24 is the minimum required for acceptance at the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Consequences
Too many students who graduate from the KCMSD lack the basic reading, writing and math skills that employers need in today’s knowledge-based economy. The resulting loss of productivity and profits costs the Kansas City business community untold millions annually. This shortage of qualified workers puts both the city and the entire metropolitan area in a weak competitive position for attracting and keeping businesses.
Many KCMSD graduates with relatively high grade point averages are stunned by the rigors of college coursework, even at the community college level. In fact, in Kansas City’s Metropolitan Community College system, 79% of KCMSD graduates had to take remedial math classes and 53% had to take remedial English classes before they could begin regular coursework. Our tax dollars are paying to teach students what they should have learned in high school.
In Jackson County, an estimated one in five adults – many former KCMSD students – is considered functionally illiterate. That means they can’t read and understand simple written materials; clearly communicate their thoughts in writing; or perform simple calculations, such as balancing a checkbook. Equally disturbing is that they lack the skills to be proactive citizens and responsible parents.
A City with a Reputation for “Bad Schools”
After decades of pouring resources into the school system – including the $2+ billion magnet school initiative and an endless parade of “save our schools” superintendents – the KCMSD has failed both its students and the community.
Consequences
The family unit is the core of any community. Unfortunately, in too many Kansas City neighborhoods, families with children are in short supply. In fact, there has been a 37% decline since 1970 in the number of families with children living in the city limits. The reason: even those who love urban life reluctantly move to suburban communities with better schools because, as they so often say, they can’t in good conscience send their children to the KCMSD.
This year, the City of Kansas City was forced to cut some $85 million from its budget in the face of declining revenues, which can be attributed in part to the ongoing migration of people and jobs from Kansas City. The result: fewer basic city services for remaining residents and, ultimately, a deteriorating quality of life.
Kansas City is no longer considered a desirable place to live for those with school-age children. As a result, realtors say that Kansas City home values are significantly lower than those for comparable homes in area communities with better school districts.
Multiply these consequences by the hundreds of thousands of students whom the KCMSD has failed to adequately educate over the last few decades, and it’s easy to see that the cost to the community of a “broken school district” is staggering.
Sources: Alliance for Excellent Education, Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Education Gap, The Kansas City Star, Metropolitan Alliance for Adult Learning, Metropolitan Community Colleges of Kansas City, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Pew Center for the States, U.S. Census Bureau.