Outlawing Dropouts Costs Money But Doesn't Address the Problem
The Herald-Leader has caught up. Earlier, they were unaware that HB 189, a bill that would raise the compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18 would result in more students and therefore more expenses. We noted:
Raising the dropout age requires significantly more spending. Without entering into a discussion about whether it is a good or bad proposal, if the legislature acts in a way that would keep more students in the school system than would otherwise be there, then the state is going to have to spend more for more students. It is not something that calls "for no additional money." In fact, it calls for over $11,500 for every three students that are kept in school who would otherwise have opted out.
Reporter Jim Warren notes today:
Legislative economists said they can't determine how much the proposal would cost the state, but suggested that it would require at least $15 million a year to educate those who otherwise would have dropped out.
With 6,175 children possibly affected, our math puts the number north of $23 million.
In other criticism, if these kids don't want to be in school, we can't imagine that raising the compulsory age will change their attitude towards education, and now that it's illegal to be out of school, all we're doing is paying more for enforcement to put kids in a place that they're not going to apply themselves anyway.
That is why this bill constantly fails, and points to one of the myriad problems with legislators in Frankfort:
The problem is that kids don't want to be in school, not that they're not compelled to be there. Representative Brent Yonts (D-Muhlenberg, 2008 Rank # 78) has introduced this bill in each of the last 10 years. Instead of recognizing that he is pushing a bad idea and looking for a new good one instead (perhaps one that examines how government programs might be discouraging individuals from pursuing individual success) he just keeps on doing the same thing.
He is always able to do the same thing because Kentuckians continue to elect more of the same.
Other reporters remember to talk about the cost as well. Mark Hebert notes the cost at the end of his report, but the Courier-Journal neglects it.
There's an easy way for our schools to save considerably more than this amount, however, that deserves its own post.
