How many budgets did you balance in vermont? a lot. i didn t miss one. in cuba, for the first time in over four decade, fidel castro will not hold a leadership position in that nation s government. castro s younger brother, raul, was named the country s leader ruling the communist party. a lifetime castro confidante will be the second in command. the choice was disappointing to some who hoped the party would tap an outsider like donald trump. we ll see what happens. the new york times, the charity named for rapper can nay west intended to reduce high school dropout rates has closed mysteriously. the formerç executive directorf the kanye west foundation declined to speak. and it raised the bulk of money from companies and individuals with whom mr. west what s wrong with that? i don t know. how is that negative? it s not.
America. and one of the most critical issues we re facing is the nation s high school dropout rates. the statistics are alarming. a child drops out of school every 11 seconds. think about that. a quarter of u.s. students do not graduate from high school at all. and the class of 2009 dropouts will cost the united states $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity. and joining us now to discuss this crisis and two people who have been taking it on, general colin powell and his wife alma powell. welcome to you both. thank you for being here. great to be here. you guys this has obviously been a very exciting week. not only for us, but for the entire education community. but you all have been fighting this fight for a very long time. where are we in 2010? we in 2010, are making great strides to alleviate the problem. at america s promise, this has been a concern of ours for a
That is estimate to do grow another 9 percent by 2017. there is some good news about handling this growing number, though. for inned kindergarten through 12th grade the average public schoolteacher salary is now a respectable $51,000. overall ratio of teacher to pupils of 1-16. the bad news. we have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. why after years of lots of smart people think being how to keep kids in school do we still have the dropout rates? as a country we have been slow to react to the new global marketplace and information based economy. ow dropout rate approaches 30 percent nationally. we lose about 1.2 million students each year to the street. it s a staggering number. that is economically
And that pool is estimated to grow another 9% by 2017. there is some good news about handling this growing number, though, for kindergarten through 12th braid the average public school teacher abouts salary is now a respectable $51,000. overall ratio of teacher to pupils of one to 16. the bad news we have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. why after years of people thinking about how to keep kids in school do we have the drop yachdropout rates? the country has been slow to look into the marketplace and the economy. our dropout rate approaches 30% nationally. we lose about 1.2 million students each year to the streets. it is a staggering number. so me that is economically unsustainable and moral ally
39 million to 50 million. and that pool is estimated to grow another 9% by 2017. there is some good news about handling this growing number, though, for kindergarten through 12th braid the average public school teacher abouts salary is now a respectable $51,000. overall ratio of teacher to pupils of one to 16. the bad news we have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. why after years of people thinking about how to keep kids in school do we have the drop yachdropout rates? the country has been slow to look into the marketplace and the economy. our dropout rate approaches 30% nationally. we lose about 1.2 million students each year to the streets. it is a staggering number. so me that is economically unsustainable and moral ally