Richmond’s US Representative introduces legislation requiring 90% graduation rate
Richmond’s representative to the US House of Representatives Bobby Scott introduced legislation yesterday that would incent high schools to graduate at least 90% of its students. The bill is being called the “Every Student Counts Act” and would have interim benchmarks and requirements, including graduation minimums for sub-populations of students. To get schools there, the bill calls for grants, including targeting high-priority schools, locally chosen improvement metrics, and matching funds.
The bill is a great idea, but not necessarily guaranteed to work. As Mayor Wilder said in his email to the city, Richmond is already pouring in almost 2X as much money per pupil into schools as the neighboring suburbs, yet the graduation rate is below 50%. Spending more money on schools is not necessarily the answer.
However, any program that holds leaders accountable for results is on the right track. This bill is not a one-size-fits-all solution either but allows flexibility and rewards progress over time, which seems to be a good idea.
Now it just needs to pass without a bunch of pork.
