"If we give the students hope, we raise our attendance, we raise our graduation rates," said Michael Moss, a counselor and activities director at Valley High School in Santa Ana.
District officials were quick to point out that cutting the number of required credits will not diminish academic standards.
"There will be no change in rigor," said Jose Alfredo Hernandez, president of the Santa Ana school board, which is expected to vote on the changes as early as Tuesday.
School counselors support the plan, saying it will free up time in students' schedules, giving them more opportunities to retake classes they have failed. It will also give more latitude to students taking remedial and technical classes, English language learners who require specialized courses, and honors students taking advanced classes.
But critics fear there may be other motivations.
School board member John Palacio, who plans to vote against the proposal, said cutting requirements could save the district money, because fewer required courses could mean fewer teachers. It could also be a way for the district to manipulate its graduation statistics, which are required to improve under the federal No Child Left Behind act.
"We're trying to game the graduation requirements by diluting them so that we can increase our graduation rates," he said. "And I think we need to be honest about it."
Following the lead of other districts such as San Jose Unified, Santa Ana raised its requirements in 2000, saying the higher standard would challenge more students to aim for college.
The state requires a minimum number of courses in various subjects (three years of English and two of math, for example) and a passing score on an exit exam to graduate high school.
Santa Ana is not alone in rethinking its earlier ambitions.
San Francisco Unified, for example, upped its graduation requirements in the late 1990s only to relax the math component in 2000, over concerns that it was too demanding.
"I have nothing against high standards, but I also believe that you have to be realistic," said Nadine Rodriguez, president of the Santa Ana High School parent-teacher association, whose daughter is expected to graduate this summer. "For the longest time we've been scratching our heads" over the high number of credits and the limitations it places on students, she said.
But Jonathan Espinoza, a freshman honors student at , said the requirements are not too demanding and that easing them would send the wrong message.
