In a last-minute reprieve for thousands of high school seniors, the California State Board of Education plans to rule today that 12,728 students who've yet to pass algebra can nevertheless receive a diploma.

The decision, if passed by the board, would exempt 162 school districts from a law that made Algebra I a graduation requirement beginning this year. Districts that applied for the exemption, including six Inland Valley school districts, have agreed to abide by the algebra requirement next year.

"I'm certainly expecting the board to approve these waivers," said Judy Pinegar, who manages the Sacramento office where school districts request exemptions. "The only question is whether they will require school districts to report back at the end of the year on how many students actually don't pass algebra."

The flurry of school districts applying for exemptions comes four years after State Sen. Charles Poochigian helped to establish the algebra requirement, believing that school districts would have enough time to implement it by 2004.

Then, earlier this year, a Santa Cruz School District asked to be exempt from the requirement because it had failed to tell students and parents about it.

"After that, the floodgates just opened," Poochigian said. "School districts began to see an exemption as a way to postpone this requirement for another year, which is a sad commentary and does a disservice to students."

Exemption requests have been filed by the Chaffey Joint Union High School District, the Chino Valley Unified School District, the Claremont Unified School District, the Fontana Unified School District, the Pomona Unified School District, and the Rialto Unified School District.

School administrators say students will be best served if districts receive waivers this year because it will help more students graduate.

"Our students knew about it, but there are still some that won't graduate if it remains a requirement," said Allen Martens, associate superintendent of instruction at the Chaffey Joint Union School District. "As time goes by we feel there will be a better chance that more students will complete this. I suppose you could hold them back this year, but do you have enough space to hold them back? And will they just drop out?"

The algebra requirement is but another example of a recent trend toward high-stakes standards in education.

Professor David Menefee-Libey, an education expert at Pomona College, says it's been commonplace for education officials to revise new graduation requirements in recent years when graduation rates might be significantly affected.

"When you draw the line on what to require, you're guessing in many cases, so that line is frequently tinkered with in the years after the passage of these laws," he said.

The willingness to tinker comes because denying a high school diploma can have such a profound effect on a prospective graduate's future, according to Menefee-Libey.

"You're shooting with real bullets here," he said. "A high school diploma has a huge impact on lifetime earnings, so in this case a single algebra course could determine whether you're subjected to what in effect is a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars for not passing."

In local school districts, some administrators have taken a similar view.

The Chino Unified School District, for example, has asked that 179 students be exempted from the algebra requirement.

"We won't have to deny diplomas to a couple hundred kids, which helps them," said Jeff Ellingsen, the district's director of curriculum and assessment. "When the state gives you an opportunity like this you take it."

But Poochigian believes that is the wrong approach.

Delaying the requirement simply because it can be done postpones the inevitable and does a disservice to students who won't learn the material, he said.

"I don't blame the Department of Education, because they're put in the tough spot of dealing with a large mass of districts that have failed to do their jobs over the last four years," he said. "The biggest problem I'm having is with districts who have concluded that being excluded from this requirement serves the interests of students."