146TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
FISCAL NOTE
BILL: HOUSE BILL NO. 244
SPONSOR: Representative Heffernan
DESCRIPTION: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
ASSUMPTIONS:
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Effective for Fiscal Year 2013.
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This Act increases the age requirement for compulsory school attendance from 16 to 18 years old but phased in over a two-year period such that in the first year following enactment the age requirement is 17.
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Children may be exempted from the Act’s age requirement under the following conditions:
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the child has already graduated from high school;
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the child is 16 years of age and is necessarily and lawfully employed;
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the child is 16 years of age and obtains a waiver that the child has an alternative learning plan for obtaining a high school diploma or its equivalent; or
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when the child is any age and upon the request of the parent or guardian and the request is supported by documentation from a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist or neurologist.
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The cost estimate is based on the following assumptions:
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Average # of dropouts over the past two school years: 10th graders – 384, 11th graders – 298, 12th graders – 285.
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Retention rate of 20%-50% of students that otherwise would have dropped out
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An average cost per teacher unit of $77,571 for the State share and $26,391 for the Local share.
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Generation of an additional 8-20 units for Fiscal Year 2013 and an additional 11-28 units for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015.
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Inflation factor of 3%.
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The cost estimate does not take into account that retained students may be special education students (lower unit ratio) and/or may be vocational students (earn additional Division II – AOC units) which would increase estimated costs.
Cost: State
Fiscal Year 2013 $620,000 – $1,551,000
Fiscal Year 2014 $853,000 – $2,172,000
Fiscal Year 2015 $879,000 – $2,237,000
Cost: Local
Fiscal Year 2013 $211,000 – $528,000
Fiscal Year 2014 $290,000 – $739,000
Fiscal Year 2015 $299,000 – $761,000
Office of Controller General (Amounts are shown in whole dollars)
January 19, 2012
MLM:CG 1161460207
I posted this on January 18, 2012: What do you think: A 16 year old should have the authority to sign himself out of school (dropout)? and this on December 22, 2011 DEDOE; the dog ate my homework re: high school dropout summary 2010-2011
Hey Arne Duncan check out what one of you Partnership Zone school is doing: Are Delaware principals unenrolling students to beat school ratings? It’s better to save a school leader ratings than keeping students in school!
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Do you believe for one second that this bill is introduced and then shows up in State of the Union is a coincidence?
I think the bill is a good idea, but only if it includes funding and support for schools who will now have to deal with16-17 year old students who don’t want to be there. Otherwise it is an unfunded mandate.
If nothing changes for these children, will keeping them in school help them? Would more vocational type courses help? Will it help or hurt the children who want to stay in school?
This is a big issue with public schools. All this does is increase violence and decrease overall learning capabilities.
Wait a second. We can, by law, declare children as adults in criminal proceedings and sentence them to life behind bars. But now, by law, we have determined that children are not mature enough to decide the direction of their life related to education until 18 and thus make it criminal to not attend school? Not sure what the rule is in DE, but I would suggest that the law that outlines the age for prosecuting a child as an adult should match the age in which a child can drop out of school.
Since no child left behind, standards, testing, RTTT more and more kids have lost interest in school. They are testing out the ass, the districts throw more and more assessments at them before the DCAS because boards and supers don’t want to look bad. They want DATA DATA DATA… I sometimes wonder how Bill Gates got so smart w/o all this testing, but i digress….
A 16 year old thats checked out mentally from school is a tough person to handle in a traditional public school, almost impossible. You have to create non-school options that will get him/her where they need to go…
This is just more dumping on schools- typical.
Some percentage of kids will be out on any given day/week/year/lifetime for behavior. If the adults would all, all, simply acknowledge that (eschewing the political correctness run amok), and conduct their school business for those kids that want it, everyone would be to the good, including the kids that were invited out — because some of them will return as a result of consequences having been exacted. Overall the percentage “lost” will be reduced if and when the adults act like adults, and teach consequences … perhaps via a slight reduction in indoctrination time, or God forbid, testing time.
For more prequel commentary on this subject, look to the replies on the 1/22 “Uncle Tom” post, especially numbers 8 – 12, from which the above is excerpted. Eerie foreshadowing!
In CSD there are no behavior standards and the super put principals on notice to reduce suspension numbers! I think all the flack over zero tolerance got lumped together to where nothing is being punished! I mean nothing! The code of conduct has been systematically watered down. The kids run the show and there is no doubt about it. This pertains to this strand because at 16,17,18, 19…. they run thru the school with no fear or certainly ambition to get an education.
This is a terrible bill, it makes for a great soundbite but in actuality will do more harm then good…kinda like …hmm what was it called? oh i remember…NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!
What a terribly naive idea. Obviously, she has never run a school.
[...] posted this on January 24, 2012: Delaware is getting a jump on Obama’s keep them in school until age 18 and this on January 18, 2012: What do you think: A 16 year old should have the authority to sign [...]
no one in position of decision maker at DOE has been in the business of running a school. Most of the people making decisions for school have never run a school. People who have run schools are being thrown to the curb for yesmen and real deep thinkers!