SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, Nos. 1135 and 1186

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 20, 1996

      The Senate Education Committee reports favorably a Senate committee substitute for Senate Bill Nos. 1135 and 1186.

      This committee substitute raises the age requirement for compulsory school attendance from 16 to 18 years of age for students who have not earned a high school diploma. The change would first apply to students who are in the eighth grade at the time of the bill's enactment. In addition, the substitute makes clear that a law enforcement officer may assist an attendance officer in finding students who are truant and permits a student who is truant to be taken to a facility designated by the board of education.

      The New Jersey Constitution declares that "[t]he Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the State between the age of five and 18 years." (Article VIII, Section IV, paragraph 1).

      The requirement for school attendance until age 16 was established in 1914, with an exception permitting children over 14 years of age who were "regularly and lawfully employed in some useful occupation" to leave school. This exception was removed 47 years ago (P.L.1940, c.154), and the 16 year old "drop out" age has not been changed since that time.