| By Dianne Weaver
After state education officials issued fuzzy numbers about the state's drop-out rate, a new legislative report says one-in-four West Virginia students drop-out.
The study also says students do better in smaller, community schools.
Thomas Ramey, Executive Director of Challenge WV said, "It's strange that state school Superintendent Steve Paine told lawmakers that he is intrigued by the research topic, after the state has been in the wholesale consolidation of schools."
Legislative manager Aaron Allred pointed out that the Department of Education has never studied the effects of school consolidation on student outcomes.
The department has been using inflated figures, claiming an 85% graduation rate, or insisting that only 2.6 percent of West Virginia students quit after reaching age 16.
"The erratic numbers issued by state education officials is disgusting," said Ramey.
A WV legislative audit now says that 27 percent of students fail to graduate.
Ramey says state education officials have used fuzzy numbers before, including a failure to accurately report the number of students that are thrust into long bus rides with the state's wide-spread consolidation of schools, over a decade long.
Several thousand state students, including pre-kindergarten kids, are or will be riding school buses between one and two hours each way.
The legislative study validates what Challenge WV has been reporting for years,
the drop-out rates are higher in larger high schools and larger school districts - and that education is best delivered in small community schools.
West Virginia spends among the largest per capita sums on education in the nation, with some of the poorest outcomes.
In 2008, Kanawha County had the lowest graduation rate in the state, at 68 percent.
Tyler County had the highest graduation rate, at 90 percent, where there is an imminent danger of closing high-performing Paden City High School.
Delegate Tom Azinger, R-Wood, questioned whether students from smaller schools and smaller counties have a greater sense of belonging.
Azinger said in small schools, anyone who tries out for sports teams, school choir, or other extracurricular activities is likely to get to participate.
Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said "I guarantee you the vast majority of the 25 percent who don't complete their education stay in West Virginia, and become a burden on the system.
"Promise scholars may leave the state, but dropouts don't," he said.
Helmick said "Not only do we have children graduating with poor reading and poor math skills, but we're also losing a $100,000 investment for every child that drops out."
"There's $100,000 thrown away," he said.
Delegate Bill Hartman, D-Randolph complained that no one from the Department of Education came to the interim committee hearing.
"I think it's ridiculous nobody is here to respond to this very important report," he said.
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