“President Obama says, 'When you drop out of school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country'. We need to educate our way to a better economy, and we won't be able to do that if one in four kids who enter high school aren't graduating within four years.

The president's agenda will work toward dramatically increasing the number of students who graduate from high school and will make sure those students are ready to succeed in college and careers. We have requested $50 million as part of the 2010 budget to help high schools implement drop-out prevention strategies. Additionally, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 2009 budget, we have $3.5 billion to begin to turn around the 5,000 lowest performing schools in the country, which will include many of the 2,000 schools that produce half of the country's dropouts. We need to reform these schools with new leaders and effective teachers and provide students with the education they need to succeed once they graduate.”