Lawrence Public Schools Superintendent Rick Doll, pictured in 2010.

President Barack Obama’s goal to toughen up laws so students stay in high school longer would be a useful tool in preventing high school dropouts, Lawrence public schools Superintendent Rick Doll said.

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, Obama called on every state to require students to stay in school until they have graduated or turned 18.

“When students aren’t allowed to walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma,” Obama said in his speech.

And Doll agrees.

“Anything we can do to keep kids in school so they can be prepared for a post-secondary education, is a positive,” Doll noted last week.

Current Kansas law dictates that students stay in school until the age of 18. However, they can leave at 16 if they have parental consent.

Across the past four years, 39 students have officially dropped out of school in Lawrence, meaning they’ve signed paperwork of their intention to quit school. All but eight of those students were seniors.

The district’s dropout rate is at 5.2 percent, well below the national average of 8.1 percent.

Having fewer students drop out of school wouldn’t make much of a difference on the school’s resources, Doll said.

“Keeping those students in school until 18 wouldn’t be any more expensive for us. We already have programs in place,” Doll said. “We would love to have kids stay until they graduate from high school.”

The agency that would be most affected would be the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, which handles truancy cases. An older age limit could mean more of those cases would come its way.

While a tougher law would bring added help from law enforcement, Doll said the school district needs to take a more complex approach.

“We always say punishment stops behavior. But to really make gains, we have to change attitudes that would help us make it more difficult for kids to drop out of school,” Doll said. “Our responsibility is to make sure (we provide) relevant education for them so they want to stay in school.”

Earlier this year, the school district spent $70,000 on software licenses that provided computer programs designed to reach students on the brink of dropping out of school. Those programs allowed students who may not feel comfortable with the schedule, the structure or other components of the school day to continue and complete their course work via computer.

“It is a major focus of ours to increase the graduation rate and decrease the dropout rate. Any help we can get from the president would be great,” Doll said.