PGCYD Calls on Senators to Increase High School Dropout Age

The Executive Board of the Prince George’s County Young Democrats voted unanimously on February 6, 2010 to endorse SB239, a bill to increase Maryland’s High School Dropout Age. Below is the statement supporting the legislation.

Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr.

Executive Vice President

Prince George’s County Young Democrats

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Every year the state of Maryland loses about $193 million as a direct result of our high drop out rate. In fact according to a study by the Maryland Public Policy Institute “Each year’s class of drop outs is costing state taxpayers about $42 million per year, each and every year in increased governmental expenditures and reduced taxes. We really need to begin to get this under control.” Tackling the high school dropout rate in Maryland is a cause whose time has come and why the Prince George’s County Young Democrats are proud to announce our support for Senate Bill 239, the Age of Compulsory Attendance Bill submitted by Senator Catherine Pugh.

In November the Prince George’s County Board of Education announced they would support legislation in the 2009 General Assembly to ask for an increase in the allowable drop out age. Under current state law students are allowed to drop out of school at the age of 16 years old. However as recently reported after the announcement by both the Montgomery County and Prince George’s County school boards, this law actually costs the county more than it saves in the long run.

WHY WE SHOULD SUPPORT THE INCREASE

Maryland is one of only two states in the Mid-Atlantic region that allows high school students to drop out below the age of seventeen. Here in the capitol region? Both DC and Virginia require students to attend school until their eighteenth birthday. In fact according to a recent article written in the Washington Post “studies show that one reason students drop out is because they are permitted to.”

Maryland leaders have to face the following facts on why we need to increase the drop out age:

· Drop outs make $ 1 million less over their lifetime than college graduates.

· Drop outs are more than two times more likely than high school graduates to fall into poverty in one year.

· A report by the California Research Project showed every year the wave of dropouts that state has costs taxpayers $46.4 billion over their entire lifetimes.

· High school drop outs are more likely to need public assistance all while paying no taxes in return.

The Prince George’s County Young Democrats support SB 239 not as the golden key to solve our dropout problem, but as an additional knife in the drawer. We also support the other provisions that maintain a teacher’s ability to maintain order in their classroom from disruptive students. We agree that no student’s education should be at the discretion of one of their peers, however under Senator Pugh’s legislation schools will be called on to develop alternative programs for those who the traditional classroom just doesn’t fit. In school suspension, night classes, and more are programs that have both helped maintain order in the classroom and boost graduation rates in systems all over the country.

American students are living in a time when they are not only competing with their peers across the state or even just around the country but all over the world. The Prince George’s County Young Democrats believe that we need to be proactive in ensuring our children are well educated to partake in our global society and sustain a self sufficient life as productive members of society.