BY JAN BARRY
THE RECORD

Should students be required to stay in school until age 18?

Yes, says a bill moving through the state Legislature, modeled on a campaign that has already become law in nearly half the country.

Not so fast, says a school reform advocate who taught scores of high school students and whose skepticism is echoed by the state's school boards organization.

At issue is proposed legislation that would raise "the age requirement of compulsory school attendance from 16 to 18 years old," or until graduation. The bill, A-1209, was unanimously released Monday by the Assembly education committee.

"Times have changed," Assemblywoman Nellie Pou, D-Paterson, one of the bill's sponsors, said in an interview. "These are very antiquated laws," she said of the 1914 statute that allowed students to leave school at 16. In that era, many teenagers were already hard at work in factories and on farms.

READ MORE: http://www.northjersey.com/education/twosidestoeverystory/18999844.html

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