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State Rep. Daniel Patterson, D-Tucson, has introduced a bill that would increase the age at which high-school students could legally drop out from 16 to 18.
“Our kids deserve a better opportunity, and so I don’t think we should make it so easy to drop out,” he said Friday. “If you talk to people who have dropped out, they say it was the worst mistake of their lives.”
Patterson said he was inspired by President Barack Obama, who, in his State of the Union address last month, called for all states to raise the compulsory attendance age to 18.
Currently, Arizona is one of 18 states with a dropout age of 16.
House Bill 2747 would require students to earn enough credits to graduate if they are younger than 18. It has not yet been assigned to a committee for a public hearing.
Patterson said the bill would not conflict with the Grand Canyon Diploma program, in which students can graduate at the end of their sophomore year if they pass exams proving they have mastered core subjects.