
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991                   TAG: 9104060383
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

BUENA VISTA DROPOUT RATE STATE'S HIGHEST

School systems in Lexington and Buena Vista reported the lowest and highest dropout rates for 1989-90, according to state figures.

Lexington reported a dropout rate of zero, as did South Boston. Buena Vista's rate was 9.1 percent.

Richmond and Petersburg, which had Virginia's highest school dropout rates in 1988-89, cut their rates by at least one-third in 1989-90.

The declines came in a year that saw the state's overall school dropout rate decline from 4.8 percent to 4 percent. And, for the first time, no locality had a double-digit loss of students.

Petersburg's rate went from 13.1 percent to 8 percent last year, and Richmond's fell from 12.6 percent to 8.4 percent.

"Obviously, we're very pleased at the reductions in the dropout rates," said state Education Secretary James Dyke Jr. "But there's still a lot of work to be done."

Fairfax County, by far the largest school division in the state, had a 2 percent dropout rate last year, ninth lowest in the state.

by CNB