SAN DIEGO – More than one in five public school students in San Diego County, or 22.9 percent, will drop out of school by their senior year, new data from the state Department of Education shows.

For dropout rates at individual schools and districts, go to: dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ 24 percent of Calif. high school students drop out County dropout rates by school district (PDF)

The county fared slightly better than the state, which posted a four-year dropout estimate of 24.2 percent – nearly one in four students.

The new statistics, based on the 2006-07 school year, painted a grim picture of a crisis that educators Wednesday said exacts an enormous cost on society.

“It represents a tremendous loss of potential,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

The statistics were particularly alarming among Hispanic and black students statewide. An estimated 30.3 percent of Hispanic students drop out of school between ninth and 12th grade, while more 41.6 percent of black students will drop out over that period.

Across San Diego County, 28.8 percent of Hispanic students drop out during high school, and 41.7 percent of black students drop out.

In the San Diego Unified District, by far the largest school district in the county, an estimated 30.5 percent of Hispanic students and 28.7 percent of black students drop out during high school. By contrast, 15.3 percent of white students drop out.

“This is unacceptable,” said San Diego Unified Superintendent Terry Grier, who was hired last spring in part to attack the dropout crisis. “It's embarrassing and it's disappointing. We are not going to have a school district that has these kinds of dropout numbers.”

Four-year dropout rates are estimates of the percentage of students who would drop out in a four-year period – based on the data collected in 2006-07.

Administrators at some school districts said their dropout statistics were skewed by charter schools in their districts, which operate independent of many education laws, and by a high transiency rate at alternative high schools, where students already at risk of dropping out are assigned.

But the overall numbers were nevertheless stark.

During the 2006-07 school year, 9,851 students in San Diego County dropped out – about 6.2 percent of the total enrolled during that year. Statewide, the figure was 127,292 – about 6.4 percent of the total.

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