The Indiana General Assembly has tasked the State Board of Education (SBOE) with proposing new high school diploma standards by the end of 2024. The SBOE has scheduled a meeting on July 30 to further discuss the graduation requirements.
State Representative Victoria Garcia Wilburn organized a meeting Monday evening at the Hamilton East Library in downtown Fishers to take questions on the issue. She says her office has been inundated with questions and comments about the proposed new high school diploma requirements. Representative Wilburn said at the outset this is not a political event, but one aimed at answering the public’s questions. The public had plenty of questions.
Hamilton Southeastern School Board member Sarah Donsbach, along with local attorney and education lobbyist Joel Hand, were part of the panel for the event. Those in attendance wrote down questions and Hand did his best to combine questions in order to fit it all into the one-hour time limit.
The proposed changes would create GPS & GPS+ diplomas, while eliminating the Academic Honors diploma. The plan would allow students to receive training in the work force.
The new diplomas would reduce the science requirement for graduation and eliminate classes such as Geometry and Algebra II. Health, foreign languages and economics would be removed as requirements for the new diplomas.
Wilburn read a statement provided by Purdue University, saying the GPS and GPS+ diplomas would not be sufficient to be admitted to that institution. Indiana University has made similar statements.
Most of the questions submitted by the public centered on how the new proposed rules would work and the impact on parents, students, teachers and counselors.
One question asked the panel what data was utilized to establish these standards. Wilburn replied that most of the citations provided by SBOE were to Web sites. Requests submitted by Wilburn’s staff on citations have so far not resulted in answers.
The large turnout for this discussion exemplifies the interest the public has in the new high school dipliomas.
I talked with Hamilton Southeastern Schools Deputy Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley June 12, and he expressed his concerns about the SBOE proposal on diploma requirements. Read his comments at this link.
Thank you to Representative Wilburn for organizing this event! Parents need to be aware of these changes and how they will affect Indiana students’ ability to compete for merit based scholarships and grants. Honors courses allowed students to test out of college courses in some cases. This will cost our families opportunities and money.
Isn’t HSE’s superintendent on the board that is pushing and approving these changes (SBOE)? If these changes aren’t good for HSE, then isn’t this a conflict of interest with his role for the district?
Republicans have been the supermajority in the Indiana Statehouse for over 20 years and have underfunded and undercut public education. Now, Republicans want to LOWER standards for graduating H.S. It is unbelievable to me that Geometry, Health, Economics, and at least some Foreign Language would not be required to graduate under this Republican plan. How is anyone with children or with any care regarding education still voting for these Republican bozos? The Republican Party has lost its collective mind.
Not requiring students to have what I consider a basic math and science background does not prepare them for an excellent education and jobs. What it does is feed the low paying warehouse and labor jobs Indiana GOP seems to want filled by Indiana students. Job experience will come but let’s not push that as a requirement for high school students.
Republican lawmakers fully understand that an educated voting public represents a direct threat to the success of their party at the polls as the less the public knows about the world around them the easier it is to manipulate their voting patterns.
It only stands to reason that the Indiana General assembly would move to keep Indiana towards the bottom of national rankings on educational metrics, it’s become a proud tradition apparently.