Graduation plan wins support
BOISE – A scaled-back plan to increase Idaho’s high school graduation requirements received praise Thursday from key state education associations and members of the Senate Education Committee, although a vote on the proposal was delayed until next week.
Under the new requirements, proposed by the State Board of Education, students would need to take two more credits each of math and science, take a test like the SAT their junior year and complete a new “senior project” – all beginning with the Class of 2013. The rules would also require school districts to provide at least one “advanced opportunity” available for all students.
Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, said the plan would have passed the committee had not four senators been absent for a conflicting meeting.
“I think it will still be tight,” he said, noting that three of the absent committee members voiced concerns last year.
Goedde attributed increased Senate support to the state board making “some fairly sharp concessions” after holding meetings with parents and educators around the state last summer.
The plan is slated to cost $1.5 million in the public education budget for fiscal 2008, according to state documents.
A “large percentage of the high schools already have these standards in place,” said Dwight Johnson, executive director of the State Board of Education, though he didn’t know an exact number.
A similar attempt at curriculum redesign last year died in the Legislature following heated debate from lawmakers concerned that the additions might reduce the number of elective courses available and harm rural schools. The state board later withdrew the proposal, citing a lack of funding, Johnson said.
While the new requirements would not force schools to change their schedules to accommodate more electives, Johnson said, they might create more options by switching to block or trimester schedules.
Online courses will help rural schools provide advanced placement credit, he said.
Last year’s changes aimed to increase math and science requirements from two years each to four years of math and three of science.