LA School Board Approves Controversial Course Requirements For Graduating Students

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles School Board voted Tuesday in favor of a controversial program that requires students to pass certain courses to graduate.

Supporters say it will boost graduation rates, although critics disagree.

Dozens of people took part in a rally outside the L.A. School Board meeting, including Christian Moton, a recent graduate from Dorsey High School, located near the Crenshaw District.

Moton is headed to college in the fall and credits the LAUSD's A-G program, which includes 15 classes he needed to pass, to make him eligible for college admission.

"In a way [it] gives us goals to look forward to. In order to have motivation, you need goals," Moton said.

A-G was first implemented in 2005. Next school year, it will also become a graduation requirement.

L.A. School Board Member Monica Garcia co-authored a resolution to reboot and extend the plan, with an audit on its effectiveness and services, to help incoming high school seniors graduate.

Garcia says A-G can be a boost in low-income communities.

"When we lift Los Angeles in this way, teaching all children to read and write, we help them all increase the community's well-being," Garcia said.

The school district says the current graduation rate is about 70 percent.

The president of the United Teachers L.A. teachers' union, Alex Caputo-Pearl, calls A-G a diploma penalty.

"We do not want to be in a situation where, because of graduation requirement has been set a little bit higher, where the system hasn't supported students, and you have a higher failure rate," UTLA President Caputo-Pearl said.

"We also want to make sure that our elective classes are not crowded out of the curriculum."

Garcia admits A-G is still a few units shy of eligibility for the UC system.

"It's the minimum level of rigor that we want to see for a diploma that matters," she said.