YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO STAY in school until you are 21 years of age, as long as you can achieve the credits you need to graduate by the year of your 21st birthday. 

• If you are 16, 17, 18 and you are being told that you cannot graduate from school because you are too old or don’t have enough credits, you are probably being misinformed of the law.
• Get in touch with us here if this has happened to you or someone you know.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO RETURN to high school if you are coming home from being locked up, if you dropped out, or if you withdrew to attend JobCorps or Adult Education.

• If you are 18 or younger, you have the right to return to a regular high school.  If you are over 19 and won’t have enough credits to graduate by the time you are 21, your school district does not have to let you re-enroll.  So if you come home from lock up and your district tried to tell you that you HAVE to go to Adult Education, they are probably misinforming you of the law.
• If you sign yourself out of school, but change your mind, you have 10 days to change your mind and sign back in to school. After that, the district can make you wait up to 90 school days to re-enroll. After those 90 days are up, you have the right to go back.
• Read this guide if you are coming home from being locked up and need more information about your rights.
• Get in touch with us here if you or a friend are trying to return to high school and have been told that you can’t.

BUT WHAT IF they threaten to expel me if I don’t sign out of school?

• Just because your school says they will expel you doesn’t mean that they have a legal reason to.  Sometimes schools say that in order to get you to withdraw on your own.  When you withdraw, realize that you are giving up your to an education!
• When a school says they are going to “expel” you, it doesn’t happen automatically. You have a right to a hearing and you can be represented by an attorney. Read this guide to learn more about your rights in expulsion.
• Get in touch with us here if you or someone you know has been coerced into withdrawing from school.

BUT WHAT IF they tell me that I have to go an alternative school or program?

• This can be tricky, and the law is vague on this point.  School districts often involuntarily place someone in an alternative school or program without giving students and parents a choice in the matter.  This is something PROP is trying to change!
• If you are a special education student and have an IEP, they can’t just send you there.
• Get in touch with us here if you are being told that you have to go to an alternative, if you got sent to one without being given a choice, or if you are in one and don’t want to be!