Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau announced Jan. 13 that the state’s high school graduation rate increased to 85.4 percent for the 2013-2014 school year — the highest level since the Office of Public Instruction began calculating the rate in 2000.

This marks the fourth consecutive year in which the graduation rate has increased. The dropout rate, however, stayed fairly flat, increasing from 3.6 percent in the 2012-2013 school year to 3.7 percent last year.

Juneau said Montana high schools had an 80.7 percent graduation rate and a 5 percent dropout rate when she took office in the 2008-2009 school year.

“I knew we had to do better for students,” she said.

Juneau largely credited the Graduation Matters Montana initiative, which has been funded through $450,000 in grant money as well as private donations. She cited training all Browning school staff as dropout prevention coaches and placing three American Indian specialists in Missoula schools as examples.

She also announced a new gift of $450,000 from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation to fund Graduation Matters Montana for three more years.

The dropout rate needs attention, Juneau said, and she will introduce legislation this session to raise the legal dropout rate to age 18 or upon graduation.

Another bill seeking to raise graduation rates would provide state funding for 19-year-olds who are completing high school. Montana is the only state that doesn’t provide money to schools for students that age, she said.

Gov. Steve Bullock said people should look beyond the numbers to see the students.

“We can be so excited about 85.4 percent,” he said. “But it’s not about the percentages. It’s not about statistics. It’s about successes. It’s about the individual, the young men and women who are behind those percentages, who are going to have doors open to them that they would have never known otherwise.”

According to calculations by the Alliance for Excellent Education, Montana is likely to see economic gains as a result of the 520 additional high school students graduating between 2009-2014. The Alliance estimates a $5.9 million annual boost to the state’s economy going forward.