Bill Links Driver’s License To School Attendance

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming lawmaker is proposing that students who drop out of school before age 18 be barred from getting a driver's license.

The Casper Star-Tribune reported Monday (http://bit.ly/wx8uin ) that Republican state Sen. Hank Coe of Cody has drafted a bill with the new requirement.

Twenty other states and the District of Columbia have set 18 as the minimum age for dropping out. Most states link driving privileges with student attendance, behavior or achievement.

Graduation rates increased in two of the six states that raised the compulsory school age between 2002 and 2008, according to a 2010 report by Civic Enterprises, America's Promise Alliance and Johns Hopkins University.

About 1,000 Wyoming students dropped out of school in 2008-09, the latest year of data available from the Wyoming Department of Education.