Age requirements for free and compulsory education help policymakers ensure that students receive the benefits of K-12 education and support a reduction in dropout rates. Depending on the state, students are required to attend school for as few as nine years and up to 13 years. However, exemptions exist on both sides of the K-12 spectrum to support students with circumstances outside of compulsory attendance requirements. Some common exemptions include home instruction, mental or physical conditions that make attendance infeasible, or completion of equivalent high school requirements. In addition, many states apply compulsory attendance requirements to students as soon as they are first enrolled in a public school, even if they are below the minimum compulsory attendance age set in statute.

Age requirements for free K-12 education are typically more consistent from state to state, though some variation still exists in the upper age limits that states set. Regardless of their specific age requirements for free education, all states are also subject to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires that individuals with disabilities between the ages of three and 21 are provided with a free appropriate public education.

This resource provides a national comparison of school age requirements for both free and compulsory education across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Unless otherwise noted, all information provided was gathered from state statutes and constitutions only.

Definitions

• Age Requirement for a Free Education refers to the ages in which a student must be admitted into a public school free of charge.
• Age Requirement for Compulsory Education refers to the ages in which a student is required to attend school or an equivalent program defined by law.
• Lower and Upper Age Limits
  • The lower age is the minimum age a student must have turned to be provided with free education or to be required to attend school.
  • The upper age is the cutoff age at which a student is no longer eligible for free education or required to attend school.
  • An age range of 5-21 refers to a student who has turned five years of age but has not yet turned 21 years of age.
• “None identified in statute”: When used in place of an upper age limit, this means that no cutoff age or upper age limit was explicitly listed in state policy regarding the general student population. In some states, an upper age limit is provided for specific student populations, such as special education students.

50-State Comparison

• What are the state’s free and compulsory school age requirements?

 Key Takeaways