The Renton School Board on Feb. 25 voted unanimously for a resolution requesting a two-year waiver from the State Board of Education to delay the implementation of new career and college-ready graduation requirements.

Adding additional graduation requirements has potential financial and time-related impacts for the Renton School District, which is why the board is asking for the pause. The change from the current 22-credit requirement to 24 credits is supposed to allow for more rigorous and flexible study options for students to meet college admissions and technical college programs.

In 2014, the State Board of Education was directed by legislation to adopt rules to implement the new graduation requirements. The state requirements call for 24 credits total, including personal pathway requirements – three locally determined courses that lead to a specific post-high school career outcome – chosen by the student.

The legislation requires districts to implement the changes for the class of 2019, currently eighth-graders. It requires an additional science lab credit, four general elective credits, an additional arts personal pathways credit and two world language or personal pathways credits.

Renton School District officials do not anticipate the waiver being denied because all previous waivers have been approved and the State Board of Education indicated that all legitimate requests will be approved, according to the district.

“The successful implementation of the new 24-credit Career- and College-Ready Graduation Requirements is unlikely for the class of 2019 due to lack of system capacity to ensure that the requirements will be implemented in an effective and equitable manner for students,” said Damien Pattenaude, district area instructional chief, at the school board meeting.

The new requirements would be challenging to implement because with just a six-period day, there are limited options for acceleration, remediation and credit retrieval, according to administration. It also poses a problem for staffing requirements, professional development for staff, bargaining agreements, communication of those changes to students, staff and the community, Pattenaude said.

He has heard of other districts extending the school day to accommodate the new credit requirements, but there are potential financial constraints with that option, he said.

“Districts are taking different approaches to the new requirements based on their current graduation requirements,” Pattenaude said. “For those in situations like ours, i.e., only requiring 22 credits, the key first step I see being taken is to engage staff and community in a process to determine what we will need to do to get to where we want to go.”

In light of this, the district has formed a 24-Credit Career- and College-Ready Graduation Requirements Design Team, of high school and middle school principals, administration, a human resources representative and building staff. The team will research alternative school schedules, develop an implementation plan, consider the implications for staff, the facilities, curriculum and bargaining agreements for staff. The team will also work on how to communicate the changes to students, parents and the community.

Their work is to be completed no later than December 2016, in anticipation of the class of 2021.