The Montgomery County, Md., school board is pressing to increase Maryland’s age for mandatory school attendance from 16 to 18 to improve graduation rates.
The board voted unanimously on the measure calling for the change last week. But only state lawmakers can raise the age at which students can drop out of school.
Montgomery County officials say the graduation rate in the state’s largest school system has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade. It fell to 87 percent last spring from a high of 93 percent in 2003.
