AREA SCHOOLS ARE MAKING THE GRADE

If you want to find quality education at a good price, come to Southeast Missouri.

The state requires school districts to issue report cards which provides an opportunity to compare schools on key issues. The report cards give the public with some insight into a district's successes and failures over the last year. It tracks such factors as finances, staff, salaries, class sizes and dropout rates.

Local comparisons show high percentages of local and county support. For example, 32 percent of Cape Girardeau's school funding is local. In Jackson, it's 40 percent. Most of difference stems from Jackson's high transportation costs, with one of the largest geographical districts in the state.

Some area dropout rates are a little higher than the statewide average of nearly 7 percent. Jackson and Scott City public schools are much lower at 2.6 percent. Leopold should be commended that none of its students dropped out. That's a tribute to community standards there.

All in all, these report cards show that quality education can be accomplished with caring staffs, adequate facilities and reasonable budgets. Area public schools are making the grade, and legislators studying St. Louis and Kansas City should take note.