Tagged: dropout bill

After five years of advocacy, supporters of raising Kentucky's dropout age to 18  celebrated Monday as Gov. Steve Beshear signed the bill into law.

Updated: School districts will have the option of raising the minimum age when students can drop out to 18 under legislation that on Monday cleared both the Kentucky House and Senate—which may lead to statewide implementation in the future.

The approved bill is a compromise reached after past efforts to strike a deal failed.

The dropout bill allows  local school boards to choose whether to raise the dropout age to 18. After 55 percent of Kentucky's school boards raise the drop out limit, the change in four years becomes mandatory statewide.

An overwhelming majority of Kentucky parents favor moving the dropout age to 18, a new poll says.

Currently, students can drop out of school at 16 years old with a parent’s permission. But Gov.  Steve Beshear has advocated moving that age to 18.

Three of the chief opponents to raising the dropout age in Kentucky will not return to Frankfort next year.

That doesn't mean a dropout bill is likely to pass in the 2013 legislative session.

State law allows 16-year-olds to drop out of school with parental permission. But education advocates want the law changed to eliminate all loopholes and require dropouts to be 18 or older.

With a new education chairman and new leadership in the Senate, those advocates are hopeful this will be their year.