Tagged: Kentucky dropout age

A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Kentucky parents favor moving the dropout age to 18.

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

A poll by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky shows that 85 percent of parents agree with the governor and would like to see the age raised.

Fifteen percent said they did not want to increase the dropout age.

The poll surveyed 1,000 parents in Kentucky and has a margin of error of three percentage points.

Should Kentucky high schoolers have to wait until the age of 18 before they can legally drop out?

Gov. Steve Beshear thinks so, and he is vowing to again try to get such a law passed in the next General Assembly, which gets underway Jan. 8. Beshear and his wife, Jane Beshear, have long been proponents of gradually raising the state's dropout age from 16 to 18. In the past, the Beshears backed a measure that would incrementally raise the dropout age over a period of years to 17 and then to 18, giving students, parents, and school districts time to adjust to the new rules.

Proponents say such a change in state law would have far-reaching societal benefits since dropouts are more likely to go to prison or rely on welfare.

Opponents say while the idea may be well-intentioned, it would simply force disruptive and uncaring students to remain in classrooms against their will, having unintended negative consequences for other students, teachers, and administrators.

Advocates for raising the dropout age in Kentucky have a new hope heading into the next legislative session. Currently, Kentucky law allows 16-year-olds to dropout of school with parental permission. And education advocates have pushed to raise the minimum dropout age to 18.

Dropout bills have consistently failed in Frankfort, but advocates are emboldened this year now that former Senate President David Williams is no longer in the General Assembly.

But new Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer says that doesn't mean the bill is a sure thing.

“Because there are legitimate policy concerns we have had with raising the dropout age to 18," the Georgetown Republican says.