Faced with thousands of juniors who have yet to pass the WASL math test a little more than a year from their graduation, Gov. Chris Gregoire and education leaders last week reached a compromise.

If lawmakers sign off on the plan, current juniors, sophomores and freshmen who haven’t passed the test by graduation could still earn a diploma if they take math their senior year.

The only missing piece of the equation: how much it would cost to get more teens learning about tetrahedrons or tangents.

“Any time you increase the course requirements you increase the number of sections required, which increases the number of teachers needed – and that all requires money,” said Mike Olson, school improvement director for the Stanwood-Camano district.

Currently, about half of Snohomish County’s seniors – more than 3,500 teenagers – are taking math, mostly higher-level courses needed to get into college.

That’s about the same number of Snohomish County juniors who have yet to pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning math test, which is required for the class of 2008.

Snohomish County school superintendents fear thousands of students statewide will be denied diplomas if the math WASL remains a graduation requirement.

They pushed a short-term alternative: requiring students to take and pass a math class their senior year if they haven’t passed the WASL in math.

And Gregoire embraced their idea last week.

But finding more slots for students with lower skills who may not have otherwise signed up for math will take some work.

At Stanwood High School, it would cost roughly $12,000 to add one math class, Olson said.

But money is just one piece of the problem.

Educators also wonder what kinds of math classes state leaders have in mind.

“It’s very difficult to estimate what the impact would be because we don’t know what is meant by ‘rigorous math classes,’” said Susan Stoltzfus, a spokeswoman for the Northshore School District.

Northshore has 400 juniors districtwide who have yet to pass the math test, and already sees 37 percent of its seniors enrolled in math. It could cost “worst-case scenario” about $200,000 to add enough math teachers to handle the additional students, she said.

Getting more students to take math into their senior year is something colleges and math advocates have been calling for already.

They point to the high numbers of new college freshmen who must take remedial math, and to the higher-skills jobs a global economy demands.

In the Edmonds School District, about 56 percent of its more than 1,300 seniors are taking math – more than 760 teens.

Of those, about 79 percent are taking college-level math, about 9 percent are taking a third year of high school math, and about 11 percent are taking lower math classes.

Allowing students to meet the state graduation requirement by continuing on in math is a good idea, said Nancy Katims, the district’s assessment director.

“The goal is to have students take more math and have more math under their belt,” Katims said. “My guess is a student who takes math through their senior year will be able to pass” the WASL math test, she added.

The Everett School District has already started to plan for more math classes. It hired nine new math teachers in the last year and is adding computer-based classes for struggling students.

State leaders had wagered that the carrot of a high school diploma would be enough motivation to spur the math passing rate higher. Now they are scrambling.

“I’m a little concerned now that we’re trying to backfill,” said Mary Ann Stine, a curriculum director in the Everett district. “Why didn’t we have these resources before?”

Stine said she worries that the hubbub over state math standards is detracting from the central message, a message that many teens are already grasping – that math is important.

“We need kids to meet standards in mathematics. But right now, I think we have too many standards and we haven’t decided what’s important.”

The state plans to revise its math standards and then identify curriculum that best fits the new expectations. After that, teachers across the state likely will need to be trained in how to teach the new methods should schools adopt them.

Gregoire expects to include an amount in her proposed 2007-09 budget for the compromise plan. The budget is expected to be released Dec. 12.

Lawmakers will then take up the proposal when the next session starts Jan. 8.

Time is of the essence, said Olson of the Stanwood-Camano district. Juniors start signing up for their senior classes in the spring.

“Hopefully it’s not going to fall victim to politicking,” he said.

Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.