Is optional 12th grade turning Florida schools into a joke?

Is optional 12th grade turning Florida schools into a joke? an ABC
Action News report 8/29/03 related story: Legislators pass state
budget, but at what cost? (5/28/03)

TAMPA - It used to be that when a kid decided to drop out of school
after the 11th grade, he was called a loser, a dropout. But in
Florida, there is a different term for it now: graduate.

Florida is the only state in the country with an optional 12th grade.
The plan was implemented as part of the state's response to the
class-size amendment.

A national leader on public education says the only thing it is doing
is making Florida a national joke.

"It's absolutely absurd. As I sit on the National School Board's board
of directors, we're a laughingstock," said Pinellas County School
Board member Jane Gallucci.

Florida lawmakers thought optional 12th grade would be a great way to
reduce class size. If 10,000 kids decide to graduate with 18 credits
instead of 24, that frees up 400 classrooms. But what does it do for
education?

Educators say children need the fourth year of high school to help
them mature and prepare for college or the working world.

Governor Bush: "It wasn't my idea." "So where is the logical thinking
in that a child is ready to go into this world global market that we
have with only 18 credits under their belt?" Gallucci wondered.

Governor Jeb Bush said Friday that a good education is the key to
getting a good job in today's knowledge-based economy. But many
Florida universities, and virtually every out-of-state school, require
four years of high school. So how good of an idea could three-year
high schools be?

"Well, it wasn't my idea," the governor told ABC Action News.

Governor Bush signed the bill into law saying it's not right for
everybody, which seems to be the way it's playing out at Sickles High
School. Of the 700 kids eligible for it, only two have decided to skip
12th grade.
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