A new report finds Iowa high school drop-outs earn about 184-thousand dollars less in their working career than do high school grads. The report from the Legislative Services Agency also finds the unemployment rate for high school dropouts is almost twice that of high school graduates. And ethnic minorities are more likely to quit school. The good news is the state of Iowa has one of the lowest drop-out rates of any state. According to the latest data, about one-tenth of high school students do not graduate. But many earn a G-E-D and the state has significantly boosted spending on programs that help drop-outs get their G-E-D or encourage potential drop-outs to stay in class. Ten years ago, the state of Iowa spent less than 10 million dollars on so-called “at-risk” students. This year, the state’s spending over 64 million on such students. Governor Tom Vilsack has called for more attention on the drop-out problem, and he points out most of the inmates in the state’s prison system are drop-outs and it would have cost less to encourage them in school.