Bureau of Legislative Research: course offerings have shifted since 2015 changes; smaller and higher-poverty schools less likely to teach some courses

Julie Holt of the Bureau of Legislative Research told the Senate Education Committee that the adequacy study's review of learning expectations shows statutory definitions, practice and course offerings have diverged since major policy changes in 2015.

Holt said changes in state law and State Board practice — including Act 1240 (which broadened waiver access) and Act 853 (which treated demonstrating an offer of courses as sufficient for accreditation) — have given districts greater flexibility, and the effect shows up in enrollment data. "There's a clause in [the adequacy definition] that talks about the mandatory 38 classes being taught at the high school level," she said, "and as we just talked about, in law, that doesn't really line up with the definition."

Using 2018-19 enrollment, Holt analyzed roughly 294 high-school configurations and reported examples: chemistry (a 2018-19 graduation requirement) had more than 27,000 students enrolled and was taught statewide in nearly every school, but five high schools had no chemistry enrollment (three were alternative-education centers and one was a virtual/charter affected by flooding). By contrast, physics and journalism enrollments declined after those courses were no longer emphasized in the 38-course expectation; Holt found about 1,500 fewer students taking physics and roughly 400 fewer taking journalism compared with prior periods.

Holt placed the enrollment shifts in an equity framework: smaller schools and higher-poverty schools were less likely to have the full slate of courses, and charters and alternative-education centers appear frequently among the schools that do not report enrollment in certain courses. "Schools that do teach have an average enrollment of around 500 kids," she said, noting declining offerings cluster in rural and smaller districts.

Holt also described on-the-ground barriers affecting instruction: site visits found schools using funds for hygiene facilities, backpack food programs and school clinics; mental-health needs, vaping and student self-harm were recurring challenges. On personalized learning, she said Act 930 (2017) requires student success plans and that superintendents overwhelmingly reported those plans as beneficial (about 98% saying the plans helped students), though less than half said plans covered all ninth-through-twelfth graders.

Committee members questioned the frequency of State Board reviews of the 38-course list, waiver usage and whether journalism's removal from the required list primarily affected charter or waiver-eligible schools. Holt said the State Board typically considers standards on a rotation (with spring votes to give schools time to adjust), that her analysis is enrollment-based (so an offered-but-unenrolled course looks like 'not taught' in the data), and she offered to follow up with waiver-status detail on specific schools.