Kentucky Revised Statutes Title XIII. Education § 158.145.Legislative findings and declarations on school dropout rate

(a) Little progress has been made in reducing the state's student dropout rate;

(b) The number of school dropouts in Kentucky is unacceptable;

(c) The factors, such as lack of academic success, poor school attendance, lack of parental support and encouragement, low socioeconomic status, poor health, child abuse, drug and alcohol addictions, alienation from school and community, and other factors that are associated with an increased probability of students dropping out of school, occur long before the end of compulsory school age;

(d) Students who drop out of school before graduation are less likely to have the basic capacities as defined in KRS 158.645 and the skills as defined in KRS 158.6451;

(e) The number of school dropouts seriously interferes with Kentucky's ability to develop and maintain a well-educated and highly trained workforce;

(f) The effects of students dropping out of school can be felt throughout all levels of society and generations in increased unemployment and underemployment, reduced personal and family incomes, increased crime, decreased educational, social, emotional, and physical well-being, and in increased needs for government services; and

(g) The positive reduction in school dropouts can only be achieved by comprehensive intervention and prevention strategies.

(a) The statewide annual average school dropout rate will be cut by fifty percent (50%) of what it was in the year 2000. All students who drop out of a school during a school year and all students who have not graduated, fail to enroll in the school for the following school year, and do not transfer to another school, shall be included in the statewide annual average school dropout rate;

(b) No school will have an annual dropout rate that exceeds five percent (5%); and

(c) Each county will have thirty percent (30%) fewer adults between the ages of sixteen (16) and twenty-four (24) without a high school diploma or a High School Equivalency Diploma than the county had in the year 2000.