California is now the first state in the Union, that admits that grade school students drop out of school as early as 8th grade.  In the latest survey it was revealed that more than 17,000 8th graders quit school in 2010.

Also, more than 94,000 California High School students dropped out in 2010.

Prior to this survey most drop out rate surveys were considered unreliable.  They varied greatly from 11% to 22%.  In 2009 California legislators actually passed a law dictating how the drop out rate survey would be conducted.

To many employment analysts the latest California drop out numbers prove what many employers have been complaining about; not enough high school graduates to fill open positions in California.  And to make it worse, the high drop out rates continued even though more and more taxpayer money was being spent on education year after year.

In fact, in the past the California Department of Education actually worked to keep drop out rates from being made public.

One result of the waste of taxpayer money, and degrading public education in California, was the creation of the Parent Empowerment Law, in 2010.  The law gives parents the right to convert a public school into a charter school, if 51% of the parents of children in that school sign a petition.  An elementary school in Compton will become the first school converted to a charter school under the Parent Empowerment Law.

One commentator in California said it’s ’bout time the Golden State learned the Golden Rule: “What America desperately needs is an educational system that cherishes each child as an individual, that recognizes each child has needs that must be met and gifts that deserve to be nurtured. When families have freely chosen the best school for their children, there is a sense of community, of belonging, even of family, that keeps our kids in school and gets them safely to graduation.”-Alan Bonsteel, San Francisco Chronical