HB 487: Quality Basic Education Act; computer science course shall be a high school graduation requirement beginning in 2031; provide

Georgia law already requires high schools to phase in offering computer science courses, with all high schools required to offer one by the 2024-2025 school year. This bill goes a step further: starting in the 2031-2032 school year, local school boards would have to require every student to complete a computer science course, or a career, technical, and agricultural education (CTAE) course that includes computer science content, as a condition of graduating high school. Students could earn this credit anytime from 8th through 12th grade, and the course could be taken in a regular classroom, blended learning, or online. The bill specifies that a qualifying computer science course can also count toward one unit of math, science, CTAE, foreign language, fine arts, or elective credit, with limits on how many math and science credits can be offset this way. The bill also updates the legislative findings section, removing some older statistics, and adds artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to the definition of computer science.

• Adds a new graduation requirement, starting in the 2031-2032 school year, that all high school students complete a computer science or computer-science-embedded CTAE course.
• Allows that required course to also satisfy one unit of credit in math, science, CTAE, foreign language, fine arts, or electives, without increasing total credits needed to graduate.
• Limits students to offsetting no more than one math credit and one science credit through multiple computer science courses, while allowing unlimited CTAE or elective offsets.
• Directs the Department of Education to set minimum criteria for approving CTAE courses embedded with computer science, subject to State Board of Education approval.
• Updates the definition of 'computer science' to include artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, and removes outdated statistics from the law's legislative findings.
• Requires the Department of Education to ensure the Georgia Virtual School has enough capacity to help schools meet the new computer science requirement.

Georgia public high school students starting in the 2031-2032 school year, local school boards and school systems that must build the new requirement into graduation plans, high school and middle school computer science teachers, the Department of Education, and the Georgia Virtual School, which must have capacity to support the new requirement.

Every Georgia high school student would need a computer science credit to graduate starting in 2031, changing course scheduling and staffing needs for school systems years in advance. Letting the course substitute for other credits could ease scheduling pressure but also shifts which subjects students take less of.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-149.3 to add a new paragraph requiring, beginning in the 2031-2032 school year, that all students complete a computer science or computer-science-embedded CTAE course to graduate.
• The required course can be taken in grades 8 through 12 and must meet State Board of Education content standards without adding to total graduation credit requirements.
• A qualifying full-credit computer science course can substitute for one unit of math, science, CTAE, modern language or Latin, fine arts, or elective credit, but not for specific required math courses like Algebra or Geometry or for biology or physical science requirements.
• Students can earn more than one offsetting credit by completing multiple distinct computer science courses, but are capped at one math offset and one science offset; CTAE and elective offsets are unlimited.
• A qualifying CTAE course embedded with computer science can similarly satisfy one unit of CTAE or elective credit, with the Department of Education setting approval criteria for such courses.
• The bill updates the legislative findings section, removing statistics about the percentage of graduates who took computer science and the number of unfilled computer science jobs, and expands the definition of computer science to include artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)Primary sponsor
• Matt Dubnik (R, HD-029)
• Brad Thomas (R, HD-021)
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)

• high school graduation requirements
• computer science education
• Quality Basic Education Act
• K-12 curriculum
• CTAE courses