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Kentucky's attempt to keep teens from dropping out of school meets with resistance

By L.J. Jackson

November 1, 2015, 3:10 am CST

After some legislative fits and starts, it's gotten a lot harder to drop out of high school in Kentucky. Starting in July of this year, the required attendance age went from 16 to 18. But the seeming victory for education advocates may be short-lived, with opponents prepared to challenge the law's alleged punitive effects on at-risk kids.

Both sides agree that economic outcomes are better for students with high school diplomas compared to dropouts. But critics say the “Graduate Kentucky” law shouldn’t corral 16- and 17-year-olds who dropped out when it was legal to do so, many of whom are already in the process of receiving GEDs, have jobs or may be teen mothers. Administrators across the state have been tasked with tracking down former students under age 18 and bringing them back to high school, on penalty of incarceration.

“If Kentucky would commit itself to supporting vulnerable kids, then I see the law as a good thing,” says Rebecca Ballard DiLoreto, director of litigation for the Children’s Law Center in Lexington. “But they continue to fail to give children the support they need, and we see the mandatory enrollment as a way to hurt and direct children into the school-to-prison pipeline.”

DiLoreto says she and other children’s advocates are considering litigation, but they are attempting to work with school districts to clarify standards first because courts in Kentucky are permitted to lock up kids for truancy. Each school district received a $10,000 grant from the Kentucky Department of Education to implement the new law; but some are concerned that there’s not enough oversight, and that the new regulations are being implemented without the additional support needed to care for kids who have, or are considering, dropping out.

During his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama challenged all states to require students to stay in school until they turn 18. Kentucky became one of the first to pass legislation after the president’s call. Although the law’s phased-in approach was intended to give school districts and students time to be prepared, DiLoreto warns that more guidance—and examination of what’s happening on the ground—is needed.

This article originally appeared in the November 2015 issue of the ABA Journal with this headline: “The Dropout Age: Kentucky’s attempt to keep teens in school meets with resistance.”