LINCOLN — How long should kids be required to stay in school?
Nebraska lawmakers opened debate Tuesday on a proposal that would raise the mandatory school age to 18 from the current 16.
The bill's sponsor, State Sen. John Wightman of Lexington, told his colleagues that allowing kids to drop out at age 16 not only hurts their future earning power, but also increases costs for society, in terms of higher rates of crime and poverty and greater need for Medicaid and other social services.
"The era in which a high school dropout can earn a living wage has diminished," Wightman said. "It's clearly in the best interest of that child to stay in school and earn that diploma. The current law does the opposite."
Wightman has said he introduced Legislative Bill 996 to address the high dropout rate in his district. But President Barack Obama, in his State of the State address, also made raising the compulsory school-attendance age a priority.
In the 2009-10 school year, 1,911 kids dropped out of Nebraska schools who were 16 or older.
Senators adjourned for the day before voting on whether to advance the bill.
Sens. Tony Fulton of Lincoln and Scott Price of Bellevue questioned whether government was getting too involved in the rights of parents. Under current law, parents can submit a letter to get their child excused from attending school past age 16.
Fulton said he has fielded a lot of complaints about a recent state crackdown on excessive absenteeism from school. He said that while LB 996 was not as egregious, it represented an "erosion" of parental rights.
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