Changes May be in Store for Maine Graduating Seniors

Last month, Maine passed legislation that stated all graduating high school seniors are to be encouraged to apply to at least one post-secondary program. Now they want to step that up to a requirement.

A new Maine law went into effect last month, which states that all graduating seniors be encouraged to submit at least one application to higher education before exiting high school. But now, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron wants to take it one step further. The Main Commissioner wants to make it mandatory that all graduating seniors complete at least one post-secondary school application in order to receive their high school diploma. This proposal must pass the Maine Legislature as it would change graduation requirements throughout the state. If it does pass, the new law will take effect for the class of 2009, however, Gendron is urging Maine high schools to make that change a part of their schools' policy on their own. Current statistics show that half of all graduating seniors go on to college, although 84% have intentions of doing so during their senior year. The current law of post-secondary encouragement was modeled after Poland High School, which was the first high school in Maine to make the idea part of their graduating requirements.