House Committee Passes Bill To Raise Dropout Age

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The House Education Committee passed a Senate bill Tuesday to raise the student dropout age to 18. The bill by Senator Jack Westwood, an Erlanger Republican, in its original form would have allowed local school districts to raise the dropout age from 16 to 18. But it wouldn't have been mandatory. That version passed the Senate. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill by Democratic Representative Jeff Greer of Brandenburg that would raise the dropout age in every district from 16 to 17 by 2016 and then to 18 by 2017. Local districts would not be able to opt out.