Forget the graduation plan of the past — the new HB5 bill, also known as the Foundation-Endorsement Plan, is here to stay. Starting this school year, incoming freshmen will have to meet new requirements in order to graduate.

The current freshman class was automatically registered to the bill at the start of the school year.

“The basis for the change is offering more choice in class selection while meeting requirements within academic areas,” Patti Saucier, a counselor at Clark High School, said. 

The plan requires endorsements, which are described as a cluster of classes that help students plan out their futures after college.

“After making selections for classes in the Four-Year-Plan for graduation, certain endorsements will be identified based upon concentration or patterns in selections,” Saucier said.

The options for the concentrations include business and industry, public services and the arts and humanities. However, students are still required to have four or more sequences of courses in the same general subject to make it into an endorsement plan, namely the STEM concentration.

“The plan might help freshmen choose classes instead of mindlessly taking classes they don’t have any actual interest of taking,” junior Haniya Meo said. “It will help them save time and money later in college when they choose majors.”

The plan’s two main choices, foundation and distinguished, are similar to the current recommended and minimum graduation plans. The requirements are the same, other than the fact that an endorsement is required and that it is possible to change core classes in the third and fourth year.

“Some of the credits can be earned through computer classes,” counselor Lea Ann Ross said. “Which would benefit the students who go into the technology endorsement”.

In the legislation, the state decided that any student under the plan can choose their own endorsement. Ross said the new changes would not apply to students currently at Plano.

“Junior and seniors should stay on their plans,” Ross said. “The new requirements are hard to fulfill because of the endorsements.“