A Florida school district is changing the way it calculates grade point averages after a student graduated with a record-breaking 11.99 GPA.

July 14 (UPI) -- A Florida school district is changing the way it calculates grade point averages after a student graduated with a record-breaking 11.99 GPA.

Vaibhav Bhaskar, who graduated as valedictorian of Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, finished school with an 11.99 weighted GPA, breaking the state record of 11.84 set by Gaither High School graduate Dylan Mazard in 2022.

Bhaskar was able to achieve such a high GPA due to Hillsborough County's policy of awarding bonuses beyond the standard 4.0 straight-A score for Advanced Placement and Duel Enrollment courses. The student took 20 AP classes during his high school tenure, and completed 24 Dual Enrollment college courses via the University of Florida's online program -- enough to earn him an associate's degree.

"Once I got that mindset that, 'OK, I'm gonna be at the top,' I just took advantage of every opportunity I could," Bhaskar, who will be attending Duke University in the fall, told the Tampa Bay Times. "I took all the hardest classes. I kind of exhausted all of my school's curriculum, and saw what I could do beyond that."

Hillsborough County's school board recently voted to change its policy and place a cap on GPAs that will take effect as of next year's graduating class, ensuring Bhaskar's record will never be duplicated or beaten in the district.

The district explained that college admissions officers were forced to "recalculate" the "unusually high" GPAs under the old system to bring them closer in line with the rest of the state.

"In addition, the current weighting often encourages students to enroll in excessive online courses to achieve an inflated GPA, resulting in stressful and unhealthy learning habits and mental health concerns," the district said.