Michigan's Children sent letters today to Legislative leadership and members of the House and Senate education committees urging them to take swift action to ensure the future of our economy by committing to adequately educate and prepare our next generation of workers.

The letters come on the heels of the Kids Count in Michigan 2009 Data Book, which was released earlier this week and contained some good and bad news about the state's dropout crisis.

On the good side, the rate of high school dropouts declined by 6 percent between 2006 and 2007, the latest year for which data were available. But the progress is seriously jeopardized by continued budget cuts to education programs and schools.

Furthermore, the data show much work remains to be done. In 2008, well over 20,000 Michigan students who should have graduated that year had dropped out -- that's 14 percent of the young people who began high school four years earlier. And another 13,500 students needed more than the traditional four years to graduate.

This crisis requires our immediate attention.

Click here to read the letter, fact sheet, and press release, and to find out how you can help.

Kids Count in Michigan is a collaboration of the Michigan League for Human Services, which researches and writes the reports, and Michigan's Children, which assists with dissemination of the data to communities across the state.

To read more about the 2009 Data Book, click here.