Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The panel's vote Thursday means students will continue to be required to take 14 units of core courses, including four years of English and 8 1/2 credits of elective classes, to earn a diploma.
Board member Bill Hanlon had pushed for four years to change the requirement to only the 14 core credits and allow local school districts to determine the number of electives needed to graduate.
Hanlon, the director of the Clark County School District's math institute, said the 22.5 credit limit, with a maximum 24 credits available to high school students in the district, does not allow for failure.
"Nevada has the fifth-highest graduation requirement in the nation, but we certainly don't have the fifth-highest standards," he said during the debate.
Also on the table was a proposal first advanced by board President David Sheffield of Elko to increase the number of core requirements to 17 and reduce the number of electives to three, for a total of 20 credits.
Despite their earlier positions, however, both Hanlon and Sheffield backed different plans in the final discussion on the issue.
Hanlon pushed for Sheffield's plan, and Sheffield disavowed his proposal, voting to maintain the existing requirements.
Leonard Paul, an assistant superintendent for the Clark County School District, told the board that the local school board favored Hanlon's original option of requiring only the 14 core requirements and allowing for flexibility in the number of electives.
But Clark County stood alone in the testimony, with educators, business leaders and others asking the board to leave the requirements alone. They especially disagreed with Sheffield's plan because of the reduction in electives.
Richard Hawkins, chairman of the Business Education Advisory Committee in Washoe County, said electives allow students to take business-oriented or vocational classes that will enable them to get jobs.
"Reducing or eliminating elective credits would be a crucial blow to business education," he said.
Hanlon said he abandoned his earlier position to favor Sheffield's proposal as a compromise in an effort to get a change approved by the board. The plan would have increased standards by increasing the core requirements to 17, but still allowed for flexibility by reducing the overall number of credits needed to graduate to 20.
Sheffield said he changed his position after listening to the concerns of educators on the effects of reducing electives.
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