Add Your Voice to the Call for Change

Promising Policies to Increase Employment of Georgia’s Youth

• Invest in summer employment programs that help keep kids connected to education and job opportunities. Three times the number of 9th and 10th grade students drop out of high school over the summer as drop out during the school year. High quality summer programs could provide a critical link between school and work that contributes both to high school completion and future work performance.

• The state should increase the age of compulsory school attendance to 17 or older. 21 states have a compulsory attendance age of at least 17 years but Georgia only requires teens to attend school until age 16.

• HR1048 “Market Demand Skills Education in High School” is a study committee that will focus on the link between high schools and technical education. Recognizing high rates of youth unemployment, members of this House committee will make recommendations about how to better serve students in public high schools when they are not college bound.