Summary: At a special Board meeting, the Washington State Board of Education (SBE) reviewed the process for creating an emergency waiver program that would give districts more flexibility in certain graduation requirements following extensive school closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At the special Board Meeting on Thursday, March 26, SBE reviewed the process for creating an emergency waiver program that will provide districts additional flexibility to waive certain state credit requirements for graduation. To get the waiver, districts will need to complete a simple application and demonstrate a good faith effort to address core course requirements and credit deficiencies. Districts that receive the waiver will have the authority to waive credits on an individual basis for seniors who were on track to graduate this school year.

Prior to the meeting, SBE received valuable input from partner organizations and stakeholders in a short period of time. 

Staff shared considerations and a timeline for creating the emergency waiver program. The Board expects to adopt program rules during another Special Board Meeting on April 8, 2020, and aims to launch the application for districts by the middle of April.

Information from the March 26 Special Board Meeting has been added to the SBE meetings page: 

• Agenda
• Rulemaking Information
• OSPI Guidance for Long-term School Closures (March 20)
• OSPI PowerPoint Presentation re: Graduation
• Timeline for Rulemaking
• Meeting Recording

Find resources and announcements about COVID-19 on SBE's page dedicated to the topic.

The next Special Board Meeting is scheduled for April 8 from 1:30-4:30. Please subscribe to SBE news to receive the invitation and documents once they are available.