A bill introduced in September would allow Wisconsin school districts to offer vocational high school diplomas to students, permitting students to graduate without fulfilling educational requirements for core subjects now in place.
Currently, high school students must complete 13 credit units to graduate distributed across English, social studies, science and math departments.
If the bill proposed by state Rep. Mark Radcliffe, D-Black River Falls is passed, high school students would not have to fulfill the credit requirements currently needed to graduate.
Instead, they could fulfill a certain number of vocational, or job-specific, credits, as determined by school boards.
Radcliffe said it will open up jobs for high school graduates.
"In order to compete in a global economy and bring jobs back to Wisconsin we need a skilled workforce and this bill is a piece of that goal," Radcliffe said in a statement.
But the Department of Public Instruction, the state agency in charge of overseeing public education, said the bill will restrict students' opportunities.
"The department opposes the creation of a second diploma due to the concern that it will result in a two-tiered system of education," DPI Legislative Liason Jennifer Kammerud, said. "We don't want a system that closes doors for students."
Adam Gamoran, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, said vocational high school programs typically "downgrade" students.
"[The vocational programs] just aren't regarded as well as the regular academic program," Gamoran said. "Even though it might help them find a job immediately after high school, it doesn't leave open the door for secondary education later."
However, Radcliffe said the bill will give schools more options and offer students "the chance to learn a trade."
"They can use this to help market themselves to employers," Radcliffe said in a statement.
The bill at earliest could be taken up by the state Assembly in January.
