High school districts in San Mateo County will face a delicate decision of whether to allow students who don’t pass the state exit exam to walk the stage during graduation with the rest of their class.

Since 2006, high school students must pass the California High School Exit Examination to graduate. However, spurred by a recent class-action lawsuit that claimed it would be unfair to require special-education students to take the test, the state Department of Education created a temporary exemption that allowed special-education students to participate in graduation ceremonies without passing the exam.

But in the fall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the exemption. Jefferson Union High School District Superintendent Mike Crilly said before the exemption was vetoed, the district wanted to create a sense of equality and began giving out certificates of completion to all students who did not pass the exam but were otherwise in good standing at school.

“We felt they should walk on stage because you had special-ed students in exempted status receiving a diploma,” Crilly said.

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This year, however, diplomas will be awarded only to those who pass the exam in accordance with state law. The Jefferson district, which serves Daly City, Colma, Brisbane and Pacifica students, will have to decide how the law will affect whether a senior who doesn’t pass the exit exam should participate in graduation ceremonies.

South San Francisco Unified School District is leaning toward issuing certificates of completion and allowing all students who don’t pass the exit exam to walk across the stage, said Ken Knueven, director of special-education services for the district.

The Sequoia High School District board, which serves students from Belmont, Woodside, Atherton, San Carlos, Redwood City and Menlo Park, will discuss excluding all seniors who don’t pass the exam from participating in the ceremony. Board member Gordon Lewin said the board decided against offering certificates of completion to students who don’t pass the exam because it “would send a mixed signal to kids about the value of the diploma.”

Jefferson Union High School District is interpreting the legislation differently: Crilly said the state education code mandates that special-education students who do not pass the exam to be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremonies. The exemption, he said, may leave out all other students who do not pass the exam from walking across the stage.

The district has 99 students who did not pass the exam; 22 of them are special-education seniors who would be able to walk across the stage while the other 77 are left out of the ceremony.

svasilyuk@examiner.com