Thursday, April 3, 2008
Governor Culver Calls On Legislature To Raise Compulsory School Age
Governor: “Give more of our children the ability to reach their fullest potential”
DES MOINES -- Today, Governor Chet Culver called on the Iowa Legislature to pass a bill to raise the age that Iowa students must attend high school.
“In an era of a changing economy, ten percent of students who do not finish High School is ten percent too many,” said Governor Culver. “The jobs of the future are coming to Iowa, and we need highly-skilled, trained workers to fill these positions. That is why I am calling on the legislature to raise Iowa’s compulsory school age for students, and give more of our children the ability to reach their fullest potential.”
In Iowa, it is projected that there will be 150,000 more jobs than workers to fill the positions by the year 2014. The Culver/Judge Administration has made reducing the worker shortage a top priority throughout the legislative session.
During his comments at the statewide Alternative Education Conference in Des Moines, the Governor remarked that the best way to address this workforce challenge is to better educate more Iowa students. He highlighted some of the Culver/Judge Administration’s workforce proposals, such as creating a new center to train more math and science teachers, increasing access to higher education for Iowa’s graduating seniors, and investing in worker training programs.
Governor Culver called on the teachers, educators, and administrators in attendance to help pass the legislation.
“I respectfully ask Republicans and Democrats to work together to get legislation raising Iowa’s compulsory age to my desk so I can sign it into law,” said the Governor.