Legislature 2010: Dropouts

West Virginia would try several different ways to curb its estimated 17 percent school dropout rate, under a bill passed to the Senate by the House of Delegates.

As The Associated Press reports, the measure proposes "new programs for students who are disruptive, struggling with drug problems or seeking help with career and technical courses."

Passed 94-4, the bill "would also raise the mandatory attendance age from 16 to 17," the article said. "But House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling told fellow delegates that the measure never would have advanced if it contained just those two steps."

As AP reports and noted earlier, the Senate has focused solely on those two provisions but critics of such an approach include Gov. Joe Manchin.