Is FCS required in middle and high schools?
Each individual school district determines if a family and consumer sciences course is required. Most schools designate FCS courses to be an elective. This can have both positive and negative implications. In a time when educational budgets are being cut, sometimes school districts have chosen to eliminate some or all of its elective courses. However, most FCS courses receive additional funding from the federal government making it the only “elective” that receives such funds. A district that chooses to reduce or eliminate FCS programs not only denies its students of a much-needed curriculum, but also reduces the amount of funding received by the school district. The positive implication of teaching an elective is that students are choosing to be in the course, which usually leads to a well-behaved classroom.
