Requiring Maryland students to remain in school until they turn age 18 could drastically reduce dropout rates but would cost the state $200 million a year and worsen the existing shortage of teachers, classroom space and other resources, according to a new report.
A yearlong study by a statewide task force of 50 educators, community leaders and legislators recommended raising the public school compulsory attendance age from 16. Maryland law allows students to drop out at age 16 with parental permission.
Baltimore lawmakers have been pushing the change for four years, but it didn't get to a vote in the General Assembly because of concerns over what it would cost.
"It's always died because of the cost factor, and I don't get that," said state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat sponsoring a bill to raise the attendance age. "When these children start school at 5, we ought to be prepared to pay for them to stay in school until 18."
Pugh said she believes that the study, which provides more data on what steps schools should take and what it would cost, has provided momentum to change the compulsory attendance age.
"With this report and all the data in it, I think we'll be able to get it to the floor," Pugh said. "This is about the state's future. We have to do something."
The report's authors, who spent a year tracking national trends and studying the fiscal and social impact of raising the compulsory attendance age, acknowledged that the effort faces an uphill battle.
Keeping students in school until 18, according to the report, would flood schools with 21,000 more students. School systems would need to hire 1,100 more teachers to serve the additional population - not easy in a state that wrestles with an acute shortage. Colleges and universities in Maryland produce less than half the number of teachers needed to fill 7,000 vacancies each year.
The effort comes at a time when Gov. Martin O'Malley is holding the line on spending. Coming up with the money to recruit teachers out of state and abroad, pay for nearly 600 more portable classrooms, school construction and renovations to accommodate the swelling enrollment could be a challenge.
Pugh spent last week huddling with members of the Senate's Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, hoping to smooth the way for the bill.
Committee members who got their first look at the report last month said they were encouraged to learn that 27 states and the District of Columbia have pushed up the mandatory age to 17 or 18.
