Nevada's high school students who graduate in 2009 will need four years of mathematics to be eligible for the Millennium Scholarship.

The decision Friday by the Board of Regents puts in place the math requirement a year earlier than previously proposed.

It will affect current sophomores and freshmen, who some regents feared might not have time to adjust to the new requirement.

"What's best for the kids is that they take four years of math," said Jane Nichols, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.

Millennium Scholarship winners can receive as much as $10,000 from a special state fund for their college undergraduate program. To receive the scholarship, students must pass the high school proficiency exam and earn a diploma at a Nevada high school with a grade-point average of 3.25 or better.

The regents previously defined a requirement of four years of English, four years of math, three years of natural science and three years of social science by spring 2010.

But state Sen. Bill Raggio. R-Reno, asked the regents to move up the scholarship requirements after the Legislative Committee on Education recommended a fourth year of math -- algebra II or something more advanced.

Raggio sent a letter to regents in October urging them to speed up the change to 2008, but most regents said the change to that date was too soon, affecting current high school juniors who might possibly have to take two math courses in one year.

"Too many students today take an easy senior year," Raggio said Friday. "That's not what senior year is for, and if you're going to achieve and compete in the outside world, you need to ramp up the requirements."

Regents agreed that taking a fourth year of math in high school was one of the clearest indications of how students would do in college. They cited a multi-state study to back up this assertion.

Nichols echoed Raggio's belief that too many students take easy classes in their senior year and are overwhelmed when they get to college.

"We get them after 12 months of doing nothing (their senior year)," Nichols said.

The new requirement might not have any effect on students in Clark County.

A proposal to increase math and science requirements in the Clark County School District to four years and three years of study, respectively, is expected to go before the School Board on Jan. 11.

For the Millennium Scholarship requirements, concerns arose that the additional year of math might not be available for some students by 2009, and current sophomores who took a semester off from a math class might not have the time to take a fourth year.

Nichols said three high schools in rural Nevada don't offer four years of math, which puts the onus on community colleges to provide such courses.

Regents included an exception for students who aren't able to take a fourth year of math, but the particulars were not decided Friday.

"The Millennium (Scholarship) is so successful, and people want it," said Regent Jason Geddes. "And I think the school districts and parents will demand it (the fourth year of math)."

Geddes wanted to adopt the 2008 deadline but realized the regents wouldn't vote for it.

Regents Mark Alden and Steve Sisolak voted against the proposal, and Regent Linda Howard abstained.

Sisolak, whose daughter is a sophomore in the Clark County School District, said it would be impossible for current sophomores to take an additional math class in the summer if they were already off track. He said students aren't always slacking when they don't take four years of math.

"A lot of them are first-generation kids who never thought they could get into college," Sisolak said.

He said the school districts have "dropped the ball" in counseling students properly toward a curriculum that prepares them for college.

Howard abstained because she didn't like the idea of Raggio asking the board to speed up the requirements.

"There are costs involved, and we're going to get stuck with those costs," Howard said. "I'm not going to embarrass myself by voting for it."

Nichols said her office would send a letter next week to parents and students affected by the change.

Review-Journal writer Antonio Planas contributed to this report.