By Nanette Light - Stay in school. Those ABCs and 123s could save states and taxpayers millions.

Washington, D.C. - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - infoZine - The Alliance for Excellent Education last week released its 2008 state reports, which included dollar amounts states could save by increasing their graduation rates.

"There is a direct dollar and cents reason to improve education, especially in middle and high school. If you don't, these are the costs taxpayers will be paying," said Bob Wise, president of the alliance and former governor of West Virginia.

The reports are meant to show the link between education and the economy.

"What we are trying to do is get a large number of people who have no contact with the public school system aware of how much high schools affect their livelihood and well-being," Wise said.

For example, the report for South Carolina says the state, which has the lowest graduation rate, could save $320.1 million in health care costs over the lifetime of each class of dropouts. The alliance projected those costs for 45 years after the expected graduation date. Without improved graduation rates, that figure would eventually become an annual cost.

"I've seen 10 published graduation rates for South Carolina, and they are all low," said Jim Foster, director of communications for South Carolina's Department of Education. "It doesn't matter how you crunch the numbers, they are all unacceptably low."

Foster said South Carolina's low graduation rate stems from a longstanding culture that does not value a high school education. He said all but 50 schools of 1,100 in the state have 30 percent of their students at the poverty level.

Utah, which had the highest graduation rate, could save $79.2 million in health care costs.

Some states provide more generous health care, meaning they could save more.

"Whether you are in Utah, where the economy is relatively good, or Michigan, the general gist of it is, yes, you are going to do better if you stay in school," said Mark Peterson, director of public relations for the Utah State Office of Education.

In an issue brief, the alliance concludes there is a correlation between people's level of education and their health care costs. The brief says people with lower income and less education have poorer health. The alliance concludes that raising graduation rates would decrease health costs.

Wise said dropouts are more costly health care consumers and more likely to use government paid health care such as Medicaid.

Medicaid, a state-federal health care program for poor people, take the highest percentage of all state spending, an average of 22 percent, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers' 2007 fiscal survey.

"Healthy living is particularly a function of education," Wise said. "If you don't receive an education, you don't learn as much about how to take care of yourself."

Wise said low-income diets are usually higher in starches, which can lead to obesity and other problems.

The report also revealed that raising the graduation rate by 5 percent for male students would save South Carolina $151 million in criminal justice spending and additional tax revenues each year.

About 68 percent of state prison inmates did not graduate from high school, according a U.S. Justice Department report on Education and Correctional Populations.

"That doesn't mean that every dropout will become a criminal. It means there is a greater likelihood," Wise said.

Besides reading and arithmetic, education can teach character, Wise said. But keeping kids engaged is not always easy. Wise said boredom is the main cause for dropouts.

"A lot of kids rely more on texting than textbooks," Wise said. "If we can keep them engaged, they won't be out on the streets."

Through the Education and Economic Development Act, South Carolina is attempting to do that. Students choose a major in high school that reflects their career interests, Foster said. Students are able to tailor their elective schedule rather than "haphazardly" choosing courses. "We are trying to get students to see how the academic skills they are learning will be useful in their real world jobs," Foster said.

Teaching a child is also less expensive than incarcerating a child. Wise said when he was governor, from 2001 to 2005, it cost West Virginia $8,000 per year to educate a student and $23,000 to incarcerate a person in a juvenile facility.

"You have a pretty extensive system and an expensive one," Wise said.

Wise said higher graduation rates would boost the economy. Jobs that dropouts secure are usually low paying, which decreases a state's tax revenue. The idea is to turn tax consumers into taxpayers, Wise said.

According to South Carolina's report, about 32,100 students did not graduate from high school in 2007. The report says that over a lifetime the state will lose more than $8.3 billion from this class of dropouts.

This is the first time the alliance has included economic costs of high school dropouts on its state reports.

Wise said state-level costs register more with people than national figures.

As society raises its standards in the competitive market, students will need to obtain higher levels of education to meet the expectations necessary to succeed, Wise said.

"In years past, it was possible for someone to support their family without a high school diploma, but those days and those jobs are gone," Foster said. "This is a different kind of world. We have to improve those rates."