AN ACT to amend and reenact section 15.1-21-02.2 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the waiver and substitution of one unit required for high school graduation under emergent circumstances.
HB 1200 amends North Dakota’s high school graduation requirements in section 15.1-21-02.2 of the Century Code. The bill keeps the existing 22-unit graduation framework but updates the required coursework for students graduating after July 31, 2025. Most notably, it adds a specific requirement for one unit of computer science or cybersecurity, unless the student completes an approved computer science and cybersecurity integration plan. It also revises the social studies requirement to specify that U.S. history must include Native American tribal history.
The bill also expands local flexibility for school districts and nonpublic schools. It allows them to set eligibility criteria for GED-based credit in certain core subjects, and it authorizes a policy letting a student receive credit for no more than one unit through an alternative course, such as an elective or dual-credit course, if the student demonstrates an emergent circumstance. The bill is framed as a graduation-requirements update rather than a broad overhaul, but it changes how schools may award credit and how students can satisfy part of the graduation pathway.
HB 1200 directly amends the state’s minimum high school graduation requirements and affects school districts, nonpublic schools, and students subject to those requirements. It adds a computer science/cybersecurity component to graduation, modifies the U.S. history requirement to include Native American tribal history, and creates a limited waiver/substitution option for one unit in emergent circumstances. It also preserves and clarifies local authority to grant GED-based credit for certain core requirements, subject to school board approval.
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the House 88-0 and the Senate 46-0, with only a small number of absences and no recorded dissent in the provided materials. The unanimous votes suggest general agreement that the changes were reasonable updates to graduation standards and local flexibility provisions.
No significant opposition is reflected in the available record. The main policy choices embedded in the bill are the addition of computer science/cybersecurity as a graduation component, the inclusion of Native American tribal history in U.S. history instruction, and the new authority for schools to substitute one unit under emergent circumstances. Any potential contention would likely center on local discretion versus statewide uniformity, and on how schools define and apply “emergent circumstances,” but no explicit disputes are shown in the transcripts or votes provided.