Raising the bar for Iowa dropouts

Move afoot to boost legal age from 16 to 17 Two years ago, 18-year-old Andrew Jennings, a high school dropout from Cedar Rapids Jefferson, found himself laid off from a lumberyard job in Pearson, Ga., leaving him short on money and a long way from home.

Suddenly, giving school another try seemed a much more palatable idea.

"I'm just glad I was young enough to go back," said Jennings, now a senior at Cedar Rapids Metro High School.

State legislators are considering a bill they think will help others avoid Jennings' hard lesson.

The proposed legislation, HF2144, would raise the legally allowed dropout age to 17, from age 16. Anyone younger than that who's not in school can be cited or arrested, as can their parents, for truancy.

Rep. Swati Dandekar, D-Marion, one of the co-sponsors of the proposed law, said raising the dropout age has been one of her long-term goals in office, as has been lowering the dropout rate itself. Both are key, Dandekar said, in fielding a competitive work force.

"I feel it is really important for us to send a message to our children that we are in a global economy, and that education is essential," Dandekar said.

Iowa has historically had one of the highest high school graduation rates and lowest dropout rates in the United States. A U.S. Department of Education comparison for the 2001-02 school year placed Iowa's dropout rate (for ninth through 12th graders) at 2.4 percent -- the fifth-lowest in the nation. The Iowa Department of Education said the rate was 2.3 percent in the 2006-07 school year.

3,000 in Iowa

But for Jeff Berger, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Education, the rate is still far too high.

"The percentage may look really small, but if you look at 3,000 kids (who) could potentially drop out every year, that's a lot of kids," Berger said.

Berger said his department supports Dandekar's legislation because it would be hypocritical to exhort the necessity of a high school diploma while allowing students to drop out at 16.

Opposition

Critics of the bill argue it would do little to reduce the dropout rate, given that enforcing truancy law is difficult enough as it is.

Also, the state teachers union believes that "forcing students who want to drop out to attend class will just create a bad environment for the many for the sake of the few," said Bradley Hudson, lobbyist for the Iowa State Education Association.

Iowa City Superintendent Lane Plugge agrees, saying that most of the 80 or so students who drop out from his district have significant problems, such as homelessness or physical or mental disabilities that require help from outside programs.

"What we find is that kids who end up dropping out ... eed some sort of additional support than what we have to offer," Plugge said. "If you're going to raise the compulsory age, you need to have those supports in place."

Concerns about support

The lack of built-in support is of concern to Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

"I'm not against it per se. But we're missing the other half of the equation, which is, now what?" Schoenjahn said. "We're forcing a kid to stay in a class who doesn't want to be there with limited resources now. What else do we need to have in place?"

Schoenjahn mentioned alternative learning environments, such as Metro High School, as areas that should be bolstered if the dropout age is raised.

Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, a teacher and supporter of the legislation, pointed to recent amendments to the bill, such as a requirement that students complete a survey, explaining why they're leaving school. Also, a statewide panel would look at how schools can best spend money on students at risk of dropping out.

Mixed feelings

Kathy Green, principal of Metro High School, has mixed feelings about the legislation. She wants students to stay in school as long as possible but acknowledges the difficulty of making older teens go to school if they're determined not to go.

"The parent may be bringing them every day to school, and they might walk in through the front door and then walk right out the back," Green said.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Bill Croghan said truancy cases aren't prosecuted as often as they could be, and a higher dropout age could lead to a major increase in workload. "It could be terribly burdensome because I think (truancy) happens a lot," he said.

Lisa Saladin, a teacher at the Lincoln Learning Center at Kirkwood College, said what works best is when dropouts realize they've made a mistake and return to earn their high school equivalency certificate, or GED.

"I don't think the imposition of a law is going to be the motivating factor," Saladin said. "I really think the process that you need to lead a student down is where they're going to need to compete in this technical world."

By Stephen Schmidt, The Gazette