Beloit policy committee keeps high-school graduation credit requirement at 26 after debate on lowering to 24

The Beloit School District Policy Committee voted Jan. 8 to keep the district's high-school graduation credit requirement at 26 credits while forwarding a package of edited graduation policies to the full board for first reading.

The committee debated a district recommendation to reduce the requirement to 24 credits to align with recent state guidance and practices at higher-performing districts. Michelle Morteck, who presented the proposed edits, said the district had compared credit requirements across high-performing and large districts and recommended a 24-credit minimum to increase flexibility for electives, career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities.

“Changing from 26 down to 24 will allow more students to participate in work-based learning opportunities,” Morteck said. She added the proposal would not change the state-required core credits and that students could still earn up to 32 credits over four years.

Board member Tom Hankins questioned whether cutting the total credits would reduce student exposure to electives that can guide career decisions and said he was “concerned about lowering it.” Hankins pressed presenters to clarify that core requirements—listed in the draft policy as four credits of English, three social studies, three science, three math, 0.5 personal finance and 0.5 health (15.5 core credits total)—would remain unchanged under the proposal.

Morteck and other administrators explained that the proposal reduced the district’s additional elective requirement (beyond state cores) rather than state core requirements. They also described edits to how the district would count college- and career-readiness courses and to several administrative rules that accompany policy 345.6.

After extended discussion about alignment with Rock County and local charter schools, and about the committee and committee-of-origin process for policy review, the committee voted to keep the total credit requirement at 26 and to send policy 345.6 and its associated rules to the full board with the edits noted in committee. The motion to forward the package for first reading passed (motion moved by Tom Hankins; second not specified; vote: yes 2, no 0, abstain 0, absent 1).

The committee also approved sending the related administrative rules for 345.6 (Rule 1, Rule 2 and Rule 3) and the renumbered posthumous-diploma policy (to 345.62) to the full board for first reading with the changes developed in committee. Committee members and administrators clarified several technical edits that will appear in the board packet, including:

- Keeping the overall graduation total at 26 credits rather than lowering it to 24. - Updating language in the policy’s elective and college-and-career-readiness sections; the draft moves the elective requirement planning to 10.5 college-and-career-readiness credits in the edited materials discussed in committee, and the committee confirmed corresponding numeric edits to paragraphs that had been drafted for a 24-credit proposal must be restored to reflect the 26-credit decision. - Retaining statutory-alignment language in Rule 3 to allow exemptions from the 0.5 physical-education credit where state statute provides for it. - Preserving text that allows students to earn credit by examination for demonstrated proficiency (for example, language proficiency or AP exams) while administrators build implementation procedures.

Morteck said the review process has delayed high-school master scheduling this year and asked the committee for consistent practice about which committee(s) should originate particular policy changes going forward.

The committee agreed to forward the edited graduation policy package to the full board so the board can consider the first reading and any subsequent public discussion and final action. The committee’s forwarding motions were procedural votes to send the edited policies on for full-board consideration; they do not themselves change the district’s graduation requirements.

Administration said it will include the detailed edits in the packet for the full board and will continue to develop implementation procedures (for example, how proficiency examinations will be administered and counted). The board’s final vote on any changes will come at a later meeting.

Ending: The full board will receive policy 345.6 and associated rules for first reading, with the committee’s edits and direction noted in the board packet. Administrators said they will continue to refine the implementation details and return with materials the board can act on in subsequent meetings.