By Lisa Autry
Bowling Green, KY – Two bills have been filed in the current legislative session to raise Kentucky's high school dropout age from 16 to 18. State representative Jody Richards says the dropout age could not be raised without having alternative schools, which he says most districts already have. Richards doesn't feel it would be an unfunded mandate.
"It would pay great dividends over time because when you the lack of income that they make as compared to what they would make if they were college graduates or even high school graduates, it's unbelievable."
Nearly 6,500 students dropped out of Kentucky schools in 2009. The national conference of state legislatures estimates those students will end up costing the state four-billion dollars in lost tax revenue over their lifetime.