Beaufort County school leaders are scheduled to give final approval today to a policy that governs those high school students who can be exempt from final exams.

If approved by the Beaufort County Board of Education, students in grades nine through 12 who have a 90 grade-point average in a course and no more than two absences or a 95 grade-point average and no more than four absences will be exempt from final exams.

The exemptions will not apply to those courses such as career and technical-education or community-college courses in which exams are given as a requirement for the course.

The policy does not require principals to exempt students from final exams, but it gives them the authority to do so.

If the school board gives its approval, the new policy will become effective with the 2011-2012 school year.

The new policy also stipulates that exams should count 25 percent of the final course grade except for students taking state end-of-course exams in Occupational Algebra I, Occupational Biology I and Occupational English I under the Occupational Course of Study program.

The previous policy allowed high school principals to grant exemptions only to seniors with a grade average of 90 or above in a course. It did not specify attendance requirements.

The new policy, if approved, would increase the number of students eligible for exam exemptions, but it would reduce the number of students who would be given exam exemptions at Southside and Washington high schools, where historical exemption policies were in place that differed from the school system’s written policy.

At those schools, students with an average grade of 85 or above in a course and no absences have been exempt from end-of-course tests.

The new exam-exemption policy was the subject of sometimes heated debate at a recent meeting when school-board members reviewed several changes in the system’s academic policies.

Also on Tuesday, the school board is scheduled to give final approval to policies governing student promotion and accountability and progress reports and instructional feedback.