State Superintendent Proposes Increase in School Dropout Age

According to N.C. law, students can legally drop out when they turn 16. In the 2000-01 school year, 21,368 students statewide dropped out of high school, down 6 percent from the previous year.

"We're concerned about the number of dropouts in our public schools," said Kay Williams, director of communications for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. "It's a continuing problem."

Despite the decline in the dropout rate, Williams said those numbers are "still too high."

The idea to raise the minimum dropout age came from a meeting Ward had with a committee of N.C. high school principals early last week, Williams said.

Ward will propose the idea to the N.C. Board of Education in early March, Williams said. If the board approves the proposal in a final vote in April, the proposal will be put before the N.C. General Assembly when it reconvenes in late May.

Bill McNeal, superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, said he supports the idea.

"Obviously I firmly believe that we should keep our kids in school," he said.

McNeal said Wake County school officials have not yet looked into the added expense of formulating new programs to keep students in school. "We'll find sufficient funds for programs that will not only challenge (students) but excite them, too."

But state representatives are divided on the idea.

Rep. Alex Warner, D-Cumberland, and co-chairman of the House Education Committee, said education board members will have a hard time convincing the legislature to raise the dropout age.

"Certain numbers of high school students look toward a vocational end," he said. "Requiring students -- particularly those that don't want to be there -- to stay until 18 is like beating a dead horse."

Warner said educators will have a hard time forcing students who are -- at least physically -- adults to stay in the classroom against their will.

"If a kid doesn't want to complete school, parents and educators aren't going to be able to keep him or her there," he said.

Warner said that because dropout rates have seen a continual decrease in the last three years, there is not any need for "improvements of this sort."

But Rep. Donald Bonner, D-Robeson and Warner's co-chairman, said he would support the plan whole-heartedly. "Here in Robeson we have the highest dropout rate in the state," he said. "We need to stiffen the requirement."

Bonner said raising the dropout age would help students realize that a high school education is vital for success.

"I think there will be some skepticism," he said. "But most of us will realize that we have to be more firm to get students to realize their full potential."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.