Kansas high school students could see these new graduation requirements starting this fall

Kansas public education officials are nearing the final steps of updating the high school graduation requirements that have been in place since before current students were born.

The proposed new requirements would put a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math — commonly known as STEM — while also adding requirements for a financial literacy class and out-of-classroom experiences.

But most controversial would be a graduation requirement on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Scott Gordon, general counsel for the Kansas State Department of Education, spoke to the state board and the Legislature this month about the proposed changes to graduation requirements that have been in place since 2005.

"What you have in front of you is the result of a multiyear task force that was convened by the former chair of the Kansas State Board of Education," Gordon said.

"The graduation task force was made up of citizens, business leaders, parents, students, teachers, some of the past teachers of the year or members of the Teacher of the Year committee, other elected officials besides state board members, superintendents, principals, teachers, there was a variety of people on this particular task force."

When would the new graduation requirements start?

The state board still needs to hold a public hearing, which will be done in May, before it can take a final vote.

At that point, if the board adopts the regulatory changes, the new graduation requirements will start with this fall's freshman class.

If the board rejects the changes, they won't go into effect.

If the department is directed to make further changes to the graduation requirements before proceeding, "There's a very high likelihood that they will not be completely adopted and done before the freshman class enters," Gordon said.

Education commissioner Randy Watson said this was the fastest regulatory process he has seen: "We're right at a year it took, and that's the fastest it's ever happened."

Gordon said it moved fast despite a month-long delay because of one space between a period and a word.

More: Kansas high school graduation overhaul could take several more months — if it happens

The 21 credit minimum

Kansas currently requires a minimum of 21 total credits to graduate high school, and that's not changing.

"The total number of 21 doesn't change, by the way," Gordon said. "The state board had the option, they considered requiring additional courses, they decided not to do that and leave that at the discretion of the locally elected school boards."

Watson said all 286 public school districts require more than the 21 minimum, or they did pre-COVID. All were at 24 or above, with some as high as 32.

"The requirements that are established by the State Board of Education are the minimum requirements that an accredited school district must impose or require of their own students," Gordon said.

There is a segment of the student population that does only have to meet the 21, even if the local district requires more.

"The individuals that these probably affect the most are foster students or homeless students," Gordon said, because for a child that has been in the custody of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, "The law provides that those students actually their graduation requirements are the 21 hours."

English language arts

Students would continue to have a required four units of English language arts.

"The only difference moving forward will be instead of communication being something that may be included within the English language arts, it is now going to be a required part of the English language arts, at least for a semester, or a 0.5 credit," Gordon said.

The local school district has leeway to decide whether that is through a standalone communication course or by embedding it within a general English course.

In addition to communication, English classes must also cover reading, writing, literature and grammar.

"Businesses are saying students cannot communicate well," Watson said of the motivation for the change. "So they wanted a communications class, not necessarily a speech class, but a communications class of how to effectively communicate."

History and government

"There's no change to the three units of history and government which are required," Gordon said. "The course of instruction in Kansas history and government is something that's actually required by legislation. There's a statute that requires that, and so that will remain."

That Kansas history class can be waived for transfers who come in at a grade level higher than when Kansas material was covered.

Science

"There is no change to the three units of science," Gordon said.

That includes requirements for physical, biological and earth and space science with at least one laboratory course.

Math

"There is no change to the three units of mathematics," Gordon said.

Those must include algebraic and geometric concepts.

STEM

A new addition is a required unit of advanced science, technology, engineering, advanced math or similar studies. That class would be separate from the required math and science credits.

"These are the STEM courses that we are going to be requiring," Gordon said. "Computer sciences, for example, would fit within and be a STEM course, we just call it advanced math or advanced sciences because, candidly, it was easier to get that regulatory language written that way rather than trying to redefine what STEM was."

It would be up to local schools to decide what fits the STEM requirement.

"Because a lot of business and industry said we're a heavy STEM state, we need to really have more STEM education," Watson said.

Physical education and health

Students could see their PE requirement cut from a full year to one semester.

"For years there has been a requirement that a high school student take a full unit of physical education, and within that physical education, health will be embedded," Gordon said. "This now splits physical education into two separate courses, physical education being a half credit and health being a half credit."

Local districts would have the leeway to have those half credits combined into a single yearlong course.

The physical education credit will continue to have a waiver for students with a doctor's note that says they are unable to complete a PE course. Health will continue to have a religious objection by parents to material taught in a health class.

Education officials said the change is in response to surveys conducted by the task force.

"When you ask parents and you ask students, what is the biggest change that you want to see with your graduation requirements," Gordon said. "Across the board, students were tired of taking PE, because so many of them are already in other activities, they're already on sports teams or they just don't get anything out of it."

Financial literacy

Financial literacy would now be a required half-unit course for all high school students, Gordon said, acknowledging that some legislators have desired such a requirement.

Rep. Patrick Penn, R-Wichita, said he was "heartened by the regulation change" and pointed to House Bill 2039 during the 2021 session that would have imposed a financial literacy class — as well as a civics test — but was vetoed.

Gov. Laura Kelly's veto message to lawmakers told them the bill was "legislative overreach," pointing to the board of education having constitutional authority to set curriculum.

"I'm glad to see that they are catching up to the Legislature on that," Penn said of the board of education.

Fine arts

"The one unit of fine arts does not change," Gordon said. "It's the same thing that it's always been."

That may include art, music, dance, theater, forensics or similar studies.

Gordon said forensics can technically count toward both the fine arts requirement and the communications requirement, but not at the same time. That's because of a separate regulation that one unit may only satisfy one graduation requirement at a time.

Electives

The electives requirement would drop from six units to four and a half.

"That's to make up for the new classes that are going to be required," Gordon said, in order to keep the total minimum at 21.

'Accomplishments' in 'postsecondary assets'

Gordon said graduates will be required to have "two or more accomplishments approved by the state board that demonstrate the pupil will be a successful Kansas high school graduate."

He said the concept for requiring "postsecondary assets" came from a research foundation that found that "students are far more successful after high school if they have done something during their high school years other than sitting in a class. So that is why they want to make that as a minimum requirement."

Service projects, community service hours, youth apprenticeships and participating in athletics could be among the options for fulfilling that graduation requirement. Among other possibilities are obtaining an industry-recognized certification in a career and technical education course, such as welding, completing college classes while in high school, becoming an Eagle Scout, earning a 4-H Key Award or being in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, wanted more parameters from the state board to the local districts.

"It seems a little vague," she said.

Gordon said schools would know what counts, and they'd communicate that to parents and students.

"They will definitely have a list of activities by the time the regulations go in effect," he said. "If there's a school district that comes to the state board and says, 'Hey, we want this to count, we think this is a viable post secondary asset.' They can come to the state board of education, the state board will either approve it or not approve it. And once the state board approves that, then that list gets updated for everybody in the state."

Requiring students to apply for financial aid via FAFSA

The most controversial change is a requirement on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. To fulfill the graduation requirement, a student would have to file the FAFSA application with the U.S. Department of Education.

"They don't have to take it," Gordon said of any offered grants or loans. "They don't have to go to college. They just have to fill out the form. ... Unless the parents of a minor child say we're not filling it out, or, if the student is 18 years old, can say I know what the FAFSA is, I'm not filling it out."

"Why this is in there is Kansas turns back a lot of money in Pell Grants that would be free money for kids that qualify," Watson said. "They oftentimes don't know they qualify because they did not fill out the FAFSA because no one at home said you should do that.

"So again, they can waive out of it, but we found other states that have done it have found that they can provide students with more money that they don't have to pay back if they would have filled it out."

The FAFSA application would not be sent to the school district, only verification that it was filed with the federal government. That could be an email or screenshot, Gordon said.

Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, confirmed that, "to the extent that there are privacy concerns that the school superintendent or principal might know how much my daddy makes or those sorts of things, that information is not available to the district under this regulation."

"We do not want to collect that information about the FAFSA and the schools better not be collecting it either," Gordon said.

Penn said Gordon should "go back to the board and tell them to take this one out."

"I just sense something that is amiss here," Penn said, suggested the information could somehow be used against a family.

"There's no curtain that I'm hiding behind," Gordon said.

Carmichael told Gordon that "contrary to the advice of some of my colleagues, I encourage you to report back to the board that this is an excellent regulation" because it could provide more opportunities for students to seek a higher education.

Foreign language

Foreign language is not a state graduation requirement, though local districts may impose it.

"I've always been troubled that we don't require a foreign language or world language for high school kids," said Ann Mah, state school board member. But, "I don't want to change this to make that a mandate."

She suggested there could be other ways of promoting foreign language, such as through the postsecondary assets.

"The question that you want to wrestle with," Watson said, is "two years of a foreign language, does that give you enough knowledge of a foreign language to be beneficial once you're out of high school? I don't know. I had four years of French; I can't speak a word of it."

"I think it's at least as valuable as some of the other things that are on the list," Mah said.

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How Kansas is updating high school graduation requirements in 2024