Diploma bill aimed at reducing high school dropout rates now headed to governor

This sounds like Texas' House Bill 3 which offered the very same justification for creating a vocational and technical training track for students by presumably making school "more relevant" and "more flexible." Never mind that of any sub-program in the state of Texas, the Voc-tech. track registers the highest dropout rate together with the related fact that by current law, teachers do not have to be certified to teach the voc.-tech. courses that they teach. -Angela

Diploma bill aimed at reducing high school dropout rates now headed to governor
by Jan Moller, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday June 23, 2009, 9:10 PM

BATON ROUGE -- A bill that aims to reduce Louisiana's chronically high dropout rates by creating a new "career track" high school diploma and relaxing the standards for promotion to ninth grade is on its way to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk after the Legislature gave its final approval Tuesday.

The Senate voted 38-0 to adopt minor changes made by the House to Senate Bill 259 by Sen. Robert Kostelka, R-Monroe, ending an unexpectedly smooth journey for a bill that has divided educators.

Supporters said the new diploma, which would require increased vocational and technical training for students who don't plan to attend college, is needed to keep students in school who might otherwise join the 35 percent of Louisiana students who fail to earn a high school degree.