In British Columbia, school boards have a tradition of encouraging the development of innovative course offerings in response to local needs and priorities. As well, the Ministry of Education and Child Care encourages school boards to offer locally relevant courses to meet the needs of schools and their communities while providing choice and flexibility for students. As a result, there are hundreds of locally designed courses offered at schools across the province, covering subjects from adventure tourism to web publishing.

Locally designed courses are typically offered as electives. In order to count for credit toward the provincial graduation program, a locally designed course must meet requirements set by the Ministry of Education and Child Care, as outlined in the Board Authorized Course Order, and be approved by a school board.

There is no limit to the number of Board/Authority Authorized Courses that may be used for the 28 credits of electives needed to fulfill graduation requirements. Grade 12 level Board/Authority Authorized Courses may count towards Grade 12 credits required for graduation.

As a result of recent changes to the BC curriculum, the Ministry of Education and Child Care requires that all Board Authority Authorized Courses be revised, aligned to a new Ministry course or revised to fit the "Know-Do-Understand" curriculum model. Below is a list of BAA courses that have been revised for use in School District No. 73: