Senate passes bill to require online course for high schoolers

Georgia high school students would be required to take at least one online course before graduating if a bill passed by the state Senate on Thursday becomes law.

The legislation, authored by Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, and approved by a vote of 36-15, would mandate that students entering the ninth grade in the 2014-15 school year or later take at least one online course as a prerequisite for graduating.

Democrats fought the bill as an encroachment on local authority over school instruction. The bill, SB 289, now goes to the House of Representatives.