Too many minority students dropping out of high school

Hispanic youths who lack English skills are three times as likely to drop out as other Hispanic students, according to census data. Almost 40 percent of Hispanic dropouts do not speak English well.

The implications for Texas are especially troubling, given that one-fifth of the nation's Hispanic children live in the state, according to the Civil Rights Project.

It isn't just a problem for minority kids.

One in 10 Texas students vanishes from high school each year to an uncertain future, according to the state.

As bad as that number seems, the reality is probably worse. Many experts say the state undercounts dropouts. Three in 10 students who enter ninth grade don't graduate, according to an index developed by Johns Hopkins University researchers that compares the number of 12th-graders with the number of ninth-graders four years earlier.

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe said the agency counts dropouts using a variety of methods [depending upon the result they want for their PR], including an attrition rate similar to the index. But independent studies and attrition rates don't take into account students who move, she said.

We all know Republicans don't care much for that accountability.