Bibb County's Graduation Rate: 51 Percent | Education

Nearly one out of every two Bibb County ninth graders eventually drops out.

The district's 51.34 percent graduation rate is part of a new calculation by the state Department of Education. They say their new rates are lower, and more accurate, than past graduation rates.

Last year, the state estimated Bibb's graduation rate at 63.4 percent.

The state says Georgia's high school graduation rate has fallen to 67 percent based a new federally mandated calculation.

The state Department of Education released the figure Tuesday morning after months of preparing state lawmakers and other officials for the drop. Under the old calculation, the rate of students receiving diplomas had topped 80 percent, but officials say that number wasn't an accurate picture of Georgia's high school graduates.

Officials say the new formula better accounts for dropouts. The formula divides the number of graduates in a given year by the number of students who enrolled four years earlier.

Bibb County school Supt. Romain Dallemand could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But the new numbers support his previous comments that Bibb County's actual graduation rate is much lower than the state-reported rate.

He said the district is running "dropout factories."

The Central Georgia rates: