HB 91 (Rep. Coleman, Dickson, Clark, Maxwell, England)

This bill amends multiple code sections to remove all references to "The Georgia High School Graduation Test" and the "Criterion Referenced Competency Tests" as approved assessments which ultimately lead to promotion in certain grades and a high school diploma, instead replacing them with the more generic "end-of-course assessments" and "end-of-grade assessments" descriptions.

The bill provides new language as  O.C.G.A. § 20.2.281.1 which completely removes the Georgia High School Graduation Test as a requirement for graduation and provides a means by which any former student who was denied a high school diploma based solely on their not passing all or part of the GHSGT, its predecessor, or the Georgia high Schol Writing Test, to petition the local board of education to award a diploma, thereby effectively removing the current waiver and variance process required to receive a diploma under these circumstances.

Specifically:

• Beginning July 1 2015, students will no longer be required to post passing scores on the Georgia High School Graduation Test in order to earn a high school diploma.
• Any person who is no longer enrolled in a Georgia public school and who previously failed to receive a high school diploma in this state or was denied graduation solely for failing to achieve a passing score on one or more portions of the Georgia High School Graduation Test or its predecessor assessment or the Georgia High School Writing Test may petition the local board of education in which he or she was last enrolled to determine the student's eligibility to receive a high school diploma pursuant to this Code Section based on graduation requirements in effect when the student first entered ninth grade.
• Each Local School District must advertise the availability of this opportunity a minimum of three times between January 15, 2016 and January 15, 2018 in a format prescribed in the law.
• Each Local Board is required to report the awarding of such diplomas to the State Department of Education, which, in turn, is to report to the State Board of Education and General Assembly on or before January 31, 2020.
• Former students who receive their high school diploma under this code section shall not be counted as graduates in the graduation rate calculations for schools and school districts either retroactively or in current or future calculations.

The General Assembly and State Board of Education have periodically changed graduation requirements to earn a high school diploma in Georgia, however, to our knowledge, this is the first attempt to retroactively award diplomas to former students who failed to meet one specific requirement for a diploma that was in place at the time they entered ninth grade.