Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants Chicago public high school students to show they have a plan for what's next before they can get a diploma. 
 
 Emanuel's proposal would add one more big item to the graduation checklist for high school seniors: proof they've been accepted into college or the military, or a trade or a "gap-year" program. The requirement would also be satisfied if the student has a job or a job offer. 
 
 The point, the mayor said, is to get Chicago Public Schools students in all parts of the city to stop seeing high school graduation as an ending and get them to consider what's next. 
 
 "Just like you do with your children, college, post-high school, that is what's expected," Emanuel said at a Wednesday morning news conference. "If you change expectations, it's not hard for kids to adapt." 
 
 A top CPS official also acknowledged, however, that every Chicago public high school graduate essentially already meets the new standard because graduation guarantees admittance to the City Colleges of Chicago community college system. 
 
 Assuming the idea wins approval from the Emanuel-controlled Chicago Board of Education, the new requirements would first affect the Class of 2020. CPS did not specify how it would amend its graduation policies, and only said the school board would take up the issue sometime in the future. 
 
 Emanuel and his office said the "groundbreaking" effort would make CPS the nation's first large urban school district to require students to develop a plan for their lives after high school. He outlined the plan as CPS continues to struggle with financial problems that has led officials to warn the current school year could end three weeks early. 
 
 Emanuel's proposal surprised education experts who had questions about the district's legal authority to impose such a sweeping new standard. There are also questions about how the policy could affect at-risk students in a system where only a fraction of high school graduates enroll and graduate from four-year institutions. 
 
 "I've been doing this for 20 years and I've never heard of anything like that," said Maria Ferguson, executive director of the Washington D.C.- based Center on Education Policy. "The question I would have for Mayor Emanuel is: 'Where did this come from? What informed your thinking to lead you to believe that this was a good plan of action for CPS?'" 
 
 But the biggest issue might be whether such a requirement is legal, Ferguson said. While schools often make a point of helping students apply to and enroll in colleges, requiring a plan in order to get a diploma is different. 
 
 Emanuel and CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson, who was also at the news conference, said the district already has graduation requirements that are above the state standards, and that as long as CPS meets the state minimum graduation requirements, it is legal to add things on top of that. 
 
 They characterized the proposed requirement as a way to get children from all over the city to focus on their post-high school plans. 
 
 "We all need to change how we think about what it means to be a high school graduate — a diploma alone isn't enough anymore," Jackson said in a statement. 
 
 CPS high school graduation requirements already include at least one credit of computer science and the completion of two community service learning projects. Illinois school regulations also allow local school boards to adopt "additional requirements for graduation." 
 
 State laws and regulations aren't clear on exactly how much authority school districts have to expand graduation requirements, said Miranda Johnson, who is the associate director of the Education Law and Policy Institute at Loyola University's School of Law. 
 
 "I think that raises questions when the requirements go beyond academic curriculum and extend into the student's post-secondary choices," Johnson said. "I think it also raises questions if those requirements are contingent on a third party's action that may go beyond the scope of what the student can control." 
 
 Emanuel's initiative would allow the mayor to continue promoting the City Colleges of Chicago and push a potential flood of new applicants to schools that must already accept most students. Emanuel recently installed a longtime ally, Latino activist Juan Salgado, as chancellor of the system. 
 
 State law already requires Illinois community college districts to admit students qualified to complete any of the schools' programs, as long as space is available. That could provide an out for a student who isn't quite sure what to do after high school, officials said. 
 
 Asked whether a student who doesn't get one of these letters of acceptance would be prohibited from graduating from high school Jackson said in part: 
 
 "If a student graduates from a Chicago public school, they are automatically accepted into one of our City Colleges. And if a student is at a point where they're undecided … we do have that option there for them." 
 
 But processing a possible surge of college applicants would likely require CPS to hire more counselors and could also have implications for the city's community colleges, said education policy analyst Rodney Estvan of the Access Living disability rights group. 
 
 "Everybody who graduates from high school is going to be accepted into a community college. That's law," Estvan said. "They're going to be accepted into City Colleges. Hopefully (CPS) will hire more high school counselors and they'll get these kids' applications in and do what they have to do." 
 
 At the same time, Estvan said the new policy could put a strain on local community colleges. 
 
 The City Colleges system has continued to struggle with "softened" enrollment numbers, as the system also looks at burning cash reserves and making cuts because of the state's protracted budget impasse. 
 
 At the same time, the system has said it has seen larger numbers of incoming students "without the required academic preparation," which has led to higher demand for remedial courses and support services. 
 
 "It's going to be really hairy for the community colleges if a high percentage of these kids actually show up, because they're going broke," Estvan said. 
 
 There may be other practical implications involved with pushing at-risk students to prove they have jobs or have been accepted into apprenticeship programs. ||||| CHICAGO (CBS) — Under a new plan to prepare them for life after high school, Chicago Public Schools students would have to show an acceptance letter to a university, community college, apprenticeship, trade school, internship, or the armed services. 
 
 Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the new graduation requirements are something he has been considering since he was first elected in 2011. He said he wants to make sure CPS students don’t treat high school graduation as the end goal. 
 
 The mayor spoke briefly about the plan at a town hall meeting downtown on Tuesday, and formally announced the new requirement Wednesday morning at Malcolm X College. He said part of being successful in life is having continued education after high school. 
 
 Starting with the current freshman class, in order to receive their high school diploma, all CPS students would have to show an acceptance letter to a four-year university, a community college, a trade school or apprenticeship, an internship, or a branch of the armed services. 
 
 “We already have around 62 percent of our kids are already either accepted into college or accepted into community college, and our goal is to make sure nobody spikes the ball at 12th grade. We want to make 14th grade universal. That’s the new goal line,” Emanuel told CBS This Morning on Wednesday. 
 
 CPS Chief Education Officer said the new requirement does not need approval from the Illinois State Board of Education. 
 
 “As long as we meet the state’s minimum graduation requirements, the district, the Board of Education does have the authority to have requirements on top of that, and as Mayor Emanuel just pointed out, we have several that go above and beyond the state of Illinois’ requirements,” she said. 
 
 The mayor said the need for some kind of postsecondary education or training is simply a reality for the current job market. 
 
 “The workplace today has that requirement. All we’re doing, as a school system, is catching up to the requirements of the workplace,” he said. 
 
 Chicago would be the first city to implement such a requirement, although Emanuel said it’s an idea he borrowed from charter schools. 
 
 “We need, at the public side, to help all our kids – regardless of their zip code, regardless of their background, regardless of what their family situation is – that expectation and support is provided to help kids go post-high school,” he said Tuesday evening. 
 
 Emanuel also said CPS would work with students to make sure they’re aware of available scholarships and other resources to help them after high school.
– Don't have a plan after high school? Don't expect a diploma, says Rahm Emanuel. Under a new proposal from the Chicago mayor, high school students of Chicago Public Schools will need to prove they have a plan for their immediate future before they can graduate, reports the Chicago Tribune. To fulfill the graduation requirement, students of the Class of 2020 and beyond will need to show they have a job offer, or are entering university, community college, a trade program, the military, or another educational program. The goal is to prepare students for a challenging job market, Emanuel tells CBS Chicago. "A [high school] diploma alone isn't enough anymore," says CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson. Emanuel notes all high school graduates in Chicago are automatically accepted at city colleges, so no student will be left without an option. But critics say the rule could force undecided students to rush into a decision, or harm students living in poverty, per Quartz. Some say it may also require more high school counselors and additional funding for local community colleges, which are struggling financially. Others question if it's even legal for CPS to weigh in on students' choices. "I've been doing this for 20 years and I've never heard of anything like that," says an education policy expert. "The question I would have for Mayor Emanuel is: 'Where did this come from? What informed your thinking to lead you to believe that this was a good plan of action for CPS?'" Jackson, however, says the Illinois State Board of Education only requires that schools meet the state's minimum graduation requirements, and that schools can individually adopt other requirements that don't need approval from the board.