We have a wonderful update on a key pillar of Florida’s economy and the future prosperity of our 21.4 million residents and their generations to come. Governor DeSantis has announced that Florida’s 2018-19 graduation rate increased to 86.9%, up 0.8 percentage points over last year and a jump of 27.7 percentage points since 2003-04. Black, Hispanic, Disabled, and Economically-Disadvantaged students all saw gains, with all those graduation rates today in the 80th-percentile.
And I’m proud to say Leon County (my home county) has an even better graduation rate, beating the state statistics by 5% and my cousin, Rocky Hanna, is the school superintendent. In fact, Rocky was just awarded Superintendent of the Year by the Florida Music Educators Association. All Florida district and school-level graduation rates are available online here.
Florida’s High School Graduation Rates. Courtesy, Dept. of Education
This is a quest that was renewed with earnest by state policymakers, beginning in 1999 with Governor Bush and the Sunshine State Standards developed by his team at the state Department of Education. Education and student achievement is a long-term investment of time and treasure and indeed is the gift that keeps on giving!
Have a great week,
Lisa
LMA Newsletter of 1-13-20
