Ed board analyzes school-credit hike

The State Board of Education's plan to require that students take an extra year of English, math and science to graduate is going to take money, and the board may ask the Legislature to cough it up.

The board examined a draft resolution Friday in its meeting in Vernal, which was streamed over the Internet. The resolution would have the board calculate and present expected costs to legislators and the Governor's Office in the coming months. Costs could include help for struggling students, more academic counseling, and having more children in the school at one time should the new requirements result in a school-day exodus to early morning LDS Seminary classes.

The draft resolution is preliminary at best. But it reflects a possible direction the board might go in attempting to put in place notched-up graduation requirements, expected to first affect the class of 2011.

"(The draft resolution is) intended to talk about corresponding things that must take place . . . as we increase graduation requirements," board chairman Kim Burningham said. "To (boost them) in isolation . . . will really exacerbate our problems, in my opinion."

The board last March took the first step toward requiring four years of English and three years each of math and science as a requisite to graduation. The move aligns with recommendations from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s group examining high school rigor and responds to legislative threats to require four years of each subject.

Some school districts already require as much as the board proposes. But statewide, academic standards are relatively low.

Yet questions and concerns about the proposal abound.

Board member Richard Sadler questioned whether more state requirements would kill students' opportunities to experiment in high school. Arts teachers have feared their programs would go by the wayside under the plan. A special education specialist questioned whether more requirements will increase dropouts. Some educators want local autonomy to decide what classes would count for the new requirements, associate state superintendent Myron Cottam said. But would accounting, for instance, be considered applied math, or watered down mathematics instruction, board members debated. Also, should the state's new financial literacy requirement double as a math credit? The board also discussed the option of letting students meet the requirements through special career paths they set up with school counselors.

"If we had a default curriculum, we could show the world we value rigor and these core subjects, but at the same time, we still have the flexibility for the parents and the students to choose what's best for that child," board member Mark Cluff said.

The board is expected to further shape the plan next month.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com

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