HB 530 - This act treats American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language for the granting of academic credit at public elementary and secondary schools and public higher education institutions. Students may receive academic credit for demonstrating proficiency or completing a course with a passing grade. The credit may be used to satisfy the foreign language or language arts requirements, including entrance requirements of public higher education institutions. Nothing in the act prohibits a department within a higher education institution from establishing specific language requirements for its majors that cannot be met by ASL, nor does the act prohibit the offering of non-credit courses in ASL.
This act is similar to SB 454 (2005).
DONALD THALHUBER