If 90 percent of Illinois high schoolers made it to graduation, the state's economy would rake in hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a new study.
Alliance for Excellent Education president Bob Wise says raising Illinois' high school graduation rate to 90 percent for one class would boost the state's economy.
Wise says that would create more than 3,000 new jobs and boost the state’s economy by $518 million. Wise says a high school diploma is the best economic stimulus package for Illinois and the rest of the country. The graduation rate for the class of 2012 in Illinois was 71 percent. Wise, the former governor of West Virginia, says raising that rate to 90 percent is achievable, calling a high school diploma "a necessity" in order to find a job in the current economic climate.
