Last Thursday, State Rep. Jason Bartlett, along with his supporters*, held a press conference at the LOB building to address his his continued effort to have House Bill 6569: An act concerning reporting of school graduation rates be addressed this session of the General Assembly.
As you might know, Rep. Bartlett has addressed the proposed legislation during a guest post he did at My Left Nutneg in March and the topic sparked a conversation regarding the merits of the bill. Although it died in the education committee, Rep. Bartlett and his supporters were able to collect the 78 signatures needed to allow the bill to be moved to the House calendar.
Specifically, the bill calls for the age in which students can drop out of high school be changed from sixteen to eighteen. Rep. Bartlett and his supporters believe that a drop out age of sixteen is a contributing factor in the state's achievement gap as well as a factor in terms of the number of people either on welfare, incarcerated and/or involved in drug use.
Putting a personal face on the issue, Rep. Bartlett was joined by individuals who told their life stories and the after effects of dropping out of school at a young age.
Finally, lawmakers of the bill gave their rationale behind supporting the bill...
I think it's safe to say that we haven't heard the last of this bill and the debate on the floor of the General Assembly regarding the merits of the legislation should be interesting.
* Supporters for the bill include the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, Latino Affairs, African American Affairs, CT Voices for Children, CT Juvenile Alliance, Connecticut NAACP, and the Commission on Children.
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