Graduation requirements postponed

Mat-Su School Board votes to make class of 2012 the first to need extra courses

March 5, 2006

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Thanks to a strapped education budget, the Mat-Su Borough School District's graduating class of 2010 doesn't have to fulfill tougher graduation requirements the Mat-Su School Board approved last year.

On Wednesday, the board voted to delay, for two years, more rigorous requirements that would have increased from 21 to 22 the number of credits a student must have in order to graduate. The delay also means students do not have to take mandatory courses in career and technical education and fine arts.

Mat-Su Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle said the added requirements would cost the district $4 million next year with the need for 10 to 15 additional teachers and as many as 24 more portable classrooms at each of the three large high schools in the Mat-Su.

School board members were divided on whether to postpone, with members Pat Purcell, Linda Menard and School Board President Sarah Welton voting against the delay. Members Dan Contini, Rob Wells, Larry DeVilbiss and Cheryl Turner supported Doyle's recommendation.

Menard in particular has expressed opposition to postponement. At the previous board session, she said a vote to postpone was a step backward for Mat-Su schools. Menard supported waiting to see if the state Legislature came through with more education funding, beyond the $90 million increase proposed by Gov. Frank Murkowski.

With a projected budget shortfall of $5.8 million, however, district administration said the cuts were necessary.

Other options that might have kept the requirements in place included going from a six- to a nine-period school day. In a memo to the board, Assistant Superintendent George Troxel said he had not worked out the logistics of adding three periods to the school day or the consequences of holding shorter periods to accommodate increased classes. Following Wednesday's vote, the first class that will need to graduate under the new requirements is the class of 2012.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.