Jeff Bingaman: “I do very much agree we have the problem in New Mexico of way too many of our students leaving school before they…”

“I do very much agree we have the problem in New Mexico of way too many of our students leaving school before they graduate. Unfortunately, a disproportionately large portion of those students who leave school are Hispanic students. Now, on the second point the Senator raised, that every time one of those students leaves school before he or she graduates, it may, in fact--and probably does--cost the Government something in various ways, the main thing that I see it does is it robs the society of the benefit of having a better educated citizen and a more productive citizen for the rest of that person's life because each of those people, if they will stay in school and complete high school, has a much greater ability to earn, a much greater ability to provide for their families. And all of that, of course, inures to the benefit of the entire society. They pay more taxes. They are able to contribute more to their community. It is a very well-chosen investment of public funds to keep these students in school. That is all we are trying to do, to say that the Federal Government should do something to assist school districts which want to work on that problem.”