Baltimore lawmakers have been pushing the change for four years, but it didn't get to a vote in the General Assembly because of concerns over what it would cost.

"It's always died because of the cost factor, and I don't get that," said state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, a Baltimore Democrat sponsoring a bill to raise the attendance age. "When these children start school at 5, we ought to be prepared to pay for them to stay in school until 18."

The report's authors, who spent a year tracking national trends and studying the fiscal and social impact of raising the compulsory attendance age, acknowledged that the effort faces an uphill battle.

According to the report, 27 states and the District of Columbia have pushed up the mandatory age to 17 or 18. Yet few states could prove that raising compulsory attendance age directly contributed to lower dropout rates.

The state task force's 112-page report contains recommendations that go beyond raising the attendance age. It requires changes in state law as well as policy revisions by the State Board of Education.

Among the proposals from the task force:

• Redefining the path to graduation by considering five years of high school for struggling students instead of four.

• Creating a uniform system of truancy courts in all systems to ensure students are staying in school until 18.

• Awarding alternative diplomas for non-English-speaking students that carry the same weight as traditional diplomas.

• Changing state law to allow students to earn General Educational Development diplomas without having to drop out first, as the current law requires.