WBRZ - Baton Rouge

A new report says Louisiana suffered the biggest drop in its public high school graduation rate of any state in the Southern region over a five-year period.

The Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta says Louisiana's figure dropped from 64 percent in 2002 to 60 percent in 2006. The national figure for 2006 was 73 percent, according to the study. The regional figure was 72 percent.

State education officials disputed the Louisiana figures, mostly because of flaws caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.