Published Online: July 10, 2013

Trigger Met to Increase Dropout Age to 18 in Ky.

Kentucky will abandon a generations-old policy that allows minors as young as 16 to drop out of school, a move being heralded by Gov. Steve Beshear as an important step not just for students but for a state that has strived to improve its economy and educational standing.

At last count, some 5,000 Kentucky teens per year quit school early in Kentucky.

"We know that keeping our students in school will not only offer them a better future, but will ensure that Kentucky has a better-trained, better-prepared workforce that will benefit the state for decades to come," Beshear said in a statement Wednesday.

Age Rules Nationwide

Laws in 27 states require free public education to be provided to students until age 21. In the two states with the lowest age limits for tuition-free schooling, students must be admitted to public schools until age 19.

So many Kentucky school districts have opted to increase the dropout age from 16 to 18 in the past two weeks that all others will now be forced to follow. That's because the Legislature passed a law earlier this year that increases the dropout age statewide after 55 percent of the state's 173 school districts signed on.

To quicken the change, Beshear's office and education officials began what they dubbed the "Blitz to 96"—the number of districts needed to trigger the change statewide. As part of the push, the state offered $10,000 incentives to the first 96 districts that adopted the policy.

The policy won't take effect statewide until 2017, allowing school districts time to adjust to the change.

For Beshear and his wife, Jane, a former teacher, increasing the dropout age had been a top priority since taking office in 2007. It took years to get the Legislature to accept the change, and it happened only through a compromise reached in this year's legislative session.

Related Blog

Senate Republicans had balked at the idea because of concerns that classrooms would be disrupted by unruly students who don't want to be in school, forcing school districts to spend money on alternative education programs.

Proponents insisted that forcing minors to remain in school has societal and financial benefits because dropouts are more likely to go to prison or rely on welfare programs.

They cited studies that showed dropouts who get jobs are likely to make more than $300,000 less over their lifetimes than high school graduates.

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