State lawmakers force Wake County to lower graduation requirements

A provision passed last year by the state legislature forced the Wake County School Board’s hand this week, leaving the board no option but to lower its graduation requirements or find itself out of compliance with state policy.

The school board’s policy committee passed a motion Tuesday night that will lower the graduation requirements county-wide from 26 credits to 22 credits. Wake County had enforced its own higher threshold for decades to encourage student achievement. In the process, it had routinely received waivers from the state Department of Education to disregard the state threshold.

However, House Bill 259, which was passed in September, no longer gives counties an option to apply for those waivers, effectively forcing schools to adhere to the state’s 22 credit requirement.

The move will make it possible for area students to complete high school in three years. In order to do so, they need to apply for and receive a waiver from the county agreeing to their intended path. So far, county officials say 110 students have applied for that waiver.

School officials did note that the quantity of opportunities afforded to students over a span of four years as opposed to three might make four-year grads more attractive to universities than early graduates.

“We have an obligation to inform and educate on what the minimum graduation requirements are, but also what the competitiveness of that university’s admission process looks like,” Crystal Reardon, the director of school counseling for the WCPSS, said

The minimum graduation requirement will take effect this coming school year.

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