House Bill No. 380

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________



A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act establishing skill requirements for public school students who graduate from the 8th and the 12th grades."



Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:



NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Skill requirements for eighth and twelfth grade graduates. (1) A student who has completed the 8th grade in a public school should have acquired sufficient skills and knowledge to read, write, compute, and comprehend on a level that qualifies the student to enter the workforce in an entry level position that requires no specific job-related skills.

(2) A student who completes the 12th grade in a public school should:

(a) have selected a career in which the student is interested and for which the student is best suited and should have sufficient knowledge to pursue that career choice; and

(b) based on the courses completed in high school, be able to read, write, compute, and comprehend on a level to qualify for:

(i) an entry level position in the workforce that requires the ability to learn specific on-the-job skills;

(ii) admission to a college of technology without having to take remedial classes in basic subjects that were offered in high school; or

(iii) admission to a college or university without having to take remedial classes in basic subjects that were offered in high school.

(3) The reference to remedial classes in subsections (2)(b)(ii) and (2)(b)(iii) does not apply to an individual who graduated from the 12th grade more than 5 years from the date on which the individual applies for admission to a college of technology or to a college or university.



NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 20, chapter 7, part 1, and the provisions of Title 20, chapter 7, part 1, apply to [section 1].

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