LOS ANGELES, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Roy Romer and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have agreed to verify the actual number of students who dropout of LAUSD schools.
Villaraigosa has frequently cited a Harvard University study that claims approximately half of LAUSD’s high school students do not graduate. He has used this figure in a bid to gain mayoral control of the district.
Romer, however, says the dropout rate is closer to 25 percent. The California State Department of Education estimated the dropout rate to be around 33 percent for the 2003-2004 school year.
Romer has agreed to provide an independent, verifiable method of determining the actual rate.
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