DELLINGER RENEWS CALL FOR RAISING NC'S COMPULSORY SCHOOL

DELLINGER RENEWS CALL FOR RAISING NC'S COMPULSORY SCHOOL
AGE LAW DURING ASHEVILLE VISIT
Candidate for Lt. Governor Cites Citizen-Times' article, Workforce Commission
report as further evidence of need to mandate schooling beyond 16

(4/19/07 - Asheville) - Hampton Dellinger, Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, today renewed his call to raise the compulsory school age beyond 16. Dellinger's longstanding call for change is supported by a recent media report in the Asheville's Citizen-Times warning that Western North Carolina manufacturers are having trouble filling jobs due to the absence of workers with basic apprentice skills, a problem that is expected to worsen in the coming years.

"We need to update our 20th-century compulsory education law in order to compete in a 21st-century global economy," said Dellinger. "Increasing the compulsory school age will boost the fortunes of North Carolina's students and its economy."

Dellinger will speak about his proposal to raise North Carolina's compulsory school age during a luncheon reception in downtown Asheville and an evening speech before the Buncombe County Democratic Women's club.

According to a recent report by the North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development, jobs in which workers with minimal formal education or training can earn enough to support a family are "disappearing" as part of the evolution of the state's economy away from its traditional manufacturing industries. The report found that new job creation is concentrated in certain metropolitan areas, putting other parts of the state at risk of falling behind. Dellinger agrees with the report's finding that "the future prosperity of all North Carolinians depends on achieving high education attainment levels for all citizens."

Dellinger said that raising the compulsory school age to 18 should be one piece of plans to lower the dropout rate and to better prepare graduates of North Carolina high schools to compete in a global economy. He cited the Highland School of Technology, a magnet school in Gaston County with a vocational and technological focus that graduates nearly 98 percent of its students, as an example of the way creative thinking can produce positive results.

"Raising the compulsory age is only the first step," he said. "Our ultimate goal should be inventive and effective schools in which students show up not because they are legally mandated but because they are engaged and are learning skills that will prepare them for success in a global economy."

Dellinger is former Chief Legal Counsel for Gov. Mike Easley and a Deputy Attorney General. His supporters include Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess, Durham Mayor Bill Bell, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Janice McKenzie Cole, former NC Supreme Court Chief Justices Burley Mitchell and Jim Exum, former Director of the Governor's Western Office Jerry Sutton, and coastal environmentalist Joan Weld.

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