Forcing people to be there who don't want to be just makes the enviroment worse for everyone involved. If a 16 yo doesn't want to go to school, they wont, till the cops drag them there then they act out. Let them drop out.

Bill to raise dropout age passes House panel | courier-journal.com | The Courier-Journal

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A bill that would increase Kentucky’s school dropout age from 16 to 18 by 2014 was overwhelmingly passed by the House Education Committee on Tuesday.

House Bill 301, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, will now go to the full House for consideration. It would raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 17, starting with the graduating class of 2017 and to 18 for those in the class of 2018 and beyond.

Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday and First Lady Jane Beshear were among those who spoke in favor of the bill.

“A 16-year-old should not be able to make a decision that will impact their life and impact it forever,” Holliday told the panel. “This bill moves the conversation from a 16-year-old making the decision to the adults making the decision. It will also give us time to replicate the outstanding programs that are already going on in Kentucky.”

Beshear told the panel that the bill “not only answers the problem we have of young people dropping out, it also gives us opportunity to change the graduation rates and dropout rates” in Kentucky.

“I am here to encourage the passing of what I am calling the graduation bill,” Beshear said. “The graduation bill says to the children of the state that once they start school in Kentucky, they are expected to finish. It tells them that we value high educational standards and lets them know that we won’t allow them to give up on themselves.”

Greer said the reason why the bill calls for a phasing in of the higher dropout age is so that schools have time to implement programs aimed at keeping students in school until they graduate.

Beshear said the legislation is “merely a tool” for the Kentucky Department of Education and school districts to use.

“It is not the sole answer to the dropout problem,” she said. “But it’s an important step we must take.”

Twenty-one members of the panel voted to support the bill, but Rep. Bill Farmer, a Lexington Republican, passed on voting because of concern that it failed to define dropout rate.

After the meeting, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said the measure will receive “widespread, bipartisan support on the House floor.”

HB301 also sets the state’s graduation rate to 90 percent by 2015 and establishes a goal of reducing the number of adults without a GED or high school diploma by 30 percent from 2010 to 2016.

Reporter Antoinette Konz can be reached at (502) 582-4232.

I think 18 years age is better option as they become little bit mature in this age. I also recently got my Online Diploma and i am totally against this bill.

AFAIAC the age of being able to make informed decisions should be about 14, as it has in many historical cultures. Some people don't do well in school and don't benefit from being there and forcing them is indeed counterproductive.