By Trey Mewes

trey.mewes@austindailyherald.com

If a state Democrat-sponsored bill gets signed into law, high school dropouts would be unable to obtain their driver’s licenses until they are 18.

The proposal has bipartisan support, including the backing of Sen. Gen Olson, a Minnetrista Republican who heads the Senate Education Committee. The bill hasn’t had a hearing yet.

“We need to make sure our students stay in school,” said Rep. Jeanne Poppe, D-Austin. “The biggest thing to prevent people from going into poverty or crime would be to have education.”

At least 20 other states, including Wisconsin and Illinois, link school attendance and driving privileges. Minnesota law requires students to stay in school until age 16. More than 4,000 high school students dropped out in 2009, or 5.6 percent based on four-year graduation rates, according to the state Education Department.

The bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Carlos Mariani, said the state should use its leverage to keep students in school.

“Driving is not a right, it’s a privilege, and it’s perfectly within bounds for the state government to expect a quid pro quo when it comes to extending privileges,” said Mariani, DFL-St. Paul.

Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s office stated he hasn’t reviewed the proposal or taken a position.

While Poppe likes the idea of encouraging students to graduate by tying their driving privileges to school, she isn’t sure if she’d support a bill without knowing what sorts of exceptions there are for students who are forced to drop out. Local educators echo this sentiment as well.

“The only issue I really see with it is some of those students that drop out are dropping out for financial issues, to help their families,” said Jason Senne, assistant principal at Austin High School.

Senne has seen teenagers drop out for a variety of reasons in Austin, but most teens walk away from a high school diploma to earn income for their families.

“The majority of them aren’t dropping just to stay home and play video games. Some of them are trying to find other ways of getting schooling,” he said.

Some students agree that the proposal would need to have clear exceptions for students who would need to work, and wonder whether the bill would seriously harm former students trying to provide for their families by not letting them go to work.

“There’s lots of reasons people drop out of high school,” said Jack Beckmann, a high school senior who attends Riverland Community College. “I don’t think it’s fair to penalize them for that.”

Former high school dropout Vanessa Fedde, 25, urged lawmakers to include an exception for those who leave school because of family responsibilities. Fedde said she left school at 17 to care for her mother, who had severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fedde said she probably would have driven illegally if the state had prevented her from getting a license, because she needed to work, shop and drive her mother around.

“I needed it. I had to have it,” Fedde said.

Mariani said the proposal could face opposition from greater Minnesota lawmakers, because dropouts outside the Twin Cities would face more problems getting around than those in the metro area.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.