News Release

Republican State Board of Education Candidate Scott Jenkins Decries Failure to Deal with Dropout Factories

 

Lansing, MI - The Michigan Department of Education has finally released the closely held secret of the poor graduation rates in Michigan.  With 25% of high school students not graduating in four years, Jenkins noted that, “It appears that we could have given the almost $50,000 the state has invested in these students over the past four years to the students themselves and said 'good luck!'” 

Jenkins stated, “These recently released graduation numbers point dramatically to the fact that we are condemning thousands of students to lives without the potential of meaningful employment at a salary level where they can support a family.  Hopefully, this information will show the citizens of Michigan that we need people who will push for real change on the State Board of Education to reform our high schools and truly prepare all of our students for college and the workforce.”

“The time is now to fix these dropout factories,” Jenkins said in response to the graduation report, “I applaud the Department of Education for releasing this vital information.  Before we can fix the problems facing our poorly performing school districts, we have to be willing to face the brutal truth that the system ignores thousands of students every year.  It is a moral outrage that we allow school districts to continue to fail generations of our children by not providing the basic education needed to succeed in this competitive world.”

Jenkins was recently nominated as a Republican candidate for the State Board of Education for the general election in November.  Previously, Jenkins served as a Presidential Appointee to the United States Department of Education.  He worked as the Chief of Staff in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs.  In these capacities, he helped implement and support education reform at the national, state, and local levels.

Jenkins has been active locally in supporting public education as a member of the Williamston Schools Foundation and Rotary.  Jenkins is married with two children enrolled in Williamston Schools.