02/15/2010 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| SB224 | |
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 224 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 15, 2010
8:02 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Kevin Meyer, Co-Chair
Senator Joe Thomas, Co-Chair
Senator Bettye Davis, Vice Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Gary Stevens
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Donald Olson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 224
"An Act establishing the governor's performance scholarship
program and relating to the program; establishing the governor's
performance scholarship fund and relating to the fund; relating
to student records; making conforming amendments; and providing
for an effective date."
- HEARD AND HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 224
SHORT TITLE: POSTSECONDARY SCHOLARSHIPS
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
01/19/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/19/10 (S) EDC, FIN
02/03/10 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BARNES 124
02/03/10 (S) Heard & Held
02/03/10 (S) MINUTE(EDC)
02/15/10 (S) EDC AT 8:00 AM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
MURRAY RICHMOND, aide to Senator Thomas
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented CSSB 224.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:02:20 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS called the Senate Education Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:02 a.m. Present at the call to order were
Senators Huggins, Stevens, Davis Meyer and Thomas.
SB 224-POSTSECONDARY SCHOLARSHIPS
8:02:54 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS announced consideration of SB 224.
8:04:27 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER moved to adopt the committee substitute (CS) for
SB 224, labeled 26-GS2771\E as the working document. There being
no objection, the motion carried and version E was before the
committee.
MURRAY RICHMOND, aide to Senator Thomas, said when he began
working on this bill the committee was already talking about a
needs-based component. He discovered that SB 33, another
scholarship bill that specifically targets students with
financial need, was already moving through the system and used
that to develop a needs-based component for the CS that is
before the committee.
He provided a sectional analysis of the proposed committee
substitute (CS), which he said is substantially different from
the original bill.
- Section 1, page 1, provides that the districts will
determine eligibility for the program.
- Section 2 adds language concerning administrative duties to
the existing statutes.
- Section 3, page 4, updates language in the existing
statutes.
- Section 4, page 5, allows the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED) to administer the program under
14.43.091-14.43.890.
- Section 5, page 7, includes the more substantial changes.
In the governor's bill as submitted, the scholarship is
defined as having two levels: a merit-based academic
scholarship and a merit-based career and technical
scholarship. The proposed CS has three tiers: a performance
scholarship, an opportunity scholarship, and a career
scholarship.
- Section 5, page 8, allows the department to design the
programmatic elements. It defines the goals, which remain
the same as those in the original bill. It also defines the
qualifications of applicants, which differ slightly from
the governor's bill; the CS requires a student to maintain
at least a 2.5 grade point average (GPA) to remain eligible
for the scholarship, while the original bill requires only
that a student be attending college.
MR. RICHMOND said one of the best things about SB 224 is that it
mandates a more rigorous curriculum at the high school level.
Studies show that the more children learn in high school, the
better they do in college.
He commented that he met recently with representatives of many
school districts to discuss their curriculums and discovered
that some of them offer only two years of math. They discussed
internet possibilities to enhance the offerings in rural
districts, but some of them don't have reliable access to the
internet, so it will be challenging to get all of the state's
schools up to the standards the governor proposed.
MR. RICHMOND returned to his analysis of the major changes in
Section 5.
- Section 5, page 10, of the CS sets forth the core-
curriculum that a student must have completed in high
school. In the governor's plan, that includes four years of
math, four years of language arts, four years of science,
and three years of social studies. It is tiered at that
point; if a student completes these basic elements and has
an A average, he gets full tuition pegged at University of
Alaska rates for 2010 to 2011.
8:10:05 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS interjected that the committee members' packets
contain a side-by-side comparison of the governor's bill and the
proposed CS, which follows Mr. Richmond's analysis.
MR. RICHMOND continued his discussion of Section 5, page 10
regarding the curriculum requirements.
- Of the 24 schools that offer Taylor plans, seven of them
require only three units of math and only three require
four units of math. Six of them require two units of a
foreign language, and four require one unit of fine art,
neither of which is included in the governor's plan, so the
standard this plan sets for students is not universal and
is simply not attainable at some schools. Another
consideration, he added, is that some very bright students
are not interested in careers that require a lot of math
and may not be especially good at it; to weight the
standard too heavily in favor of higher math skills might
keep some of those students back. He said that while they
want to maintain the high standards, they also want to
provide a little more flexibility. What the committee
substitute proposes is to allow students to choose the
rigorous curriculum prescribed in the original bill, or to
take three units of math, four years of language arts,
three years of science, three years of social studies and
then two years of a foreign language or Alaska Native
language. He pointed out that a fine arts option could be
added.
8:12:33 AM
SENATOR DAVIS said she appreciated Mr. Richmond's analysis and
the side-by-side comparison, but wanted to know who had input
and who decided on these changes.
MR. RICHMOND answered that staff have been working on this and
have had discussions with University of Alaska President Mark
Hamilton and others to help them prepare something for the
committee to use as a starting point. This CS is intended to be
a vehicle to get the members' thoughts, so they can craft a bill
that reflects the will of the committee.
8:14:25 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER said this is a good starting point.
8:15:06 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said it is important that they understand the
challenges districts will face in meeting the standard. He asked
for details on the systemic challenges to bringing Alaska's
schools in line with the requirements.
MR. RICHMOND said he would get that information for him.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS confirmed that the language of the original bill
is fairly standard with regard to basics such as determination
of scholarship eligibility, he said, and they will come back to
that, but he hopes to first get some feedback on the changes and
whether they are moving in the right direction.
8:17:04 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked what joint committee he referred to.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS corrected himself; he meant to say the joint
meetings of the House and Senate Education committees, which
were held in the summer and earlier this session.
8:17:43 AM
SENATOR DAVIS repeated that she appreciates the work that has
been done, but the joint meeting she attended offered only an
overview, and the additional information she asked for at that
time has not been provided. Someone was supposed to tell the
committee whether the school districts will be able to meet the
requirements.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said he will follow up on that information.
8:19:17 AM
MR. RICHMOND stressed that his intent is to get the committee's
questions and find the answers.
8:19:54 AM
SENATOR STEVENS said he thinks some of the mathematics, science
and even foreign language courses could be taken in college and
would not be considered remedial. He asked Mr. Richmond to do
some research on that.
8:21:00 AM
MR. RICHMOND said there are even some Alaska Scholars who have
completed a year at University of Alaska Fairbanks without
receiving a single college credit, so it is an issue.
8:21:20 AM
He went on to say that he has researched opportunity
scholarships in some depth and would like to propose that the
committee discuss the option of an opportunity scholarship that
has the same rigorous standards in high school as the
performance scholarship, and requires students to have either a
3.5 or 3.75 GPA for the performance scholarship and have at
least a 2.5 or 3.0 GPA with a demonstrated unmet need for the
opportunity scholarship. According to President Hamilton, some
kids will to go to college no matter what, and others wouldn't
fill out the application to go even if they were offered a free
Ford F-150 truck; that leaves the students in the middle, and
the biggest barrier for them is financial need. This opportunity
would give them an incentive to push themselves in high school
to get money for college. He pointed out that one of the goals
of this plan is to increase college graduation rates, and
studies show that the best way to do that is through a needs-
based solution.
8:24:40 AM
MR. RICHMOND returned to his analysis of the academic
requirements in Section 5.
- Section 5, page 11, sets forth the requirements for the
career scholarship. In the governor's bill, the career
scholarship maintains the same standards as the academic
scholarship; it has a minimum GPA, and minimum entrance
test scores that are defined by the department. The reason
the minimum test scores are not defined in the bill is that
any change in the test would then require legislative
action. Discussions with people in the field of vocational
and technical education brought up the fact that some
students who are pursuing career training do not have the
need or the aptitude for that same high level of math and
science preparation, so the CS proposes standards more
appropriate to the needs of those students, including three
years of math, three years of language arts, two years of
science, and two years of social studies, with a GPA of at
least 2.0 and demonstrated financial need. The limit on
awards for career training is set at $3000 per year in both
the governor's bill and the CS.
8:26:35 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked if the CS increases the minimum GPA for the
performance scholarship to 3.5.
MR. RICHMOND said the original bill has tiers based on GPA with
the top tier set at 4.0; the committee substitute would have a
single tier and require students to have a B+ or better to
qualify as merit scholars. Students who do C work in high school
could qualify as opportunity scholars.
CO-CHAIR MEYER pointed out that the governor's bill required a
C+ average for opportunity scholars. He also expressed concern
that most of the students who have at least a 3.5 GPA will also
qualify for the Alaska Scholars' award.
MR. RICHMOND said that depends on what school district those
student are in; it would not be true in the larger districts.
CO-CHAIR MEYER questioned where that puts students like his own
daughter, who has a 3.5 GPA but does not qualify on the basis of
need.
8:28:57 AM
MR. RICHMOND responded that both of his children fall into that
category as well. Unfortunately, he said, funds are limited at
this point; the governor proposed $20 million per year from the
endowment for the whole program, which comes to about $133 per
unit. At current rates, that amount will not even cover tuition.
CO-CHAIR MEYER commented that he prefers the governor's proposal
in this area, because 3.0 students would still have an
opportunity to attend with some sort of scholarship.
8:30:51 AM
SENATOR STEVENS said statistics show that 85 percent of kids who
come from a family in the upper quartile of income and have a
parent with some college experience will graduate from college.
He opined that they should zero in on kids from the lower
quartile, because 55 percent of them do not graduate due to lack
of funding.
MR. RICHMOND said there was a study done of Gates Scholars,
which found that these kids graduated from college at a higher
level, in part because they did not have to work outside the
university system in order to maintain their finances. As a
result, they were better able to integrate into the college
community and developed a greater stake in staying involved.
8:33:24 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS commented that the $20 million sounds like a lot
of money until they start spreading it among the large number of
students and credit hours.
MR. RICHMOND agreed. He said they anticipate there will about
2300 students participating in the first year of the program,
4034 in the second year, 5187 in the third year, and 5763 by
year four of the program.
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked if the needs-based award is based upon the
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
MR. RICHMOND said the application for the governor's scholarship
program is the FAFSA form. He explained that students determine
which school(s) they want to go to when they fill out the form,
and the school itself distributes the funds.
8:36:05 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER said he thought the governor's bill had no needs-
based component.
MR. RICHMOND responded that the application is still the FAFSA
form.
8:36:26 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS referred to language in the section on
opportunity scholarships that says they are based on attendance
at University of Alaska, and asked if they are using UA as the
benchmark amount for awards.
MR. RICHMOND confirmed that they are, because at least one
private school in the state could qualify for this program, and
the amount of need would be significantly higher based on those
costs.
8:37:15 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said he believes they are going to have to
reevaluate the merit scholarship, which is based on the top ten
percent of high school graduates, because the new curriculum
requirements in this bill will affect that too. He added that
they need to know who is taking remedial courses and what
schools they are from in order to do that.
MR. RICHMOND said he has been in touch with people at the
University of Alaska and those numbers are a little harder to
come by than they used to be because the University has
instituted a mandatory remedial program in the last few years,
which caused an increase in the number of students in remedial
programs.
8:39:16 AM
SENATOR STEVENS pointed out that the meaning of that last
sentence under opportunity scholarships is really not clear.
MR. RICHMOND returned to career scholarships; he said they would
essentially lower some of the curriculum standards for the
career scholarship, while maintaining the high academic
standards. He stressed that this scholarship, in both bills, can
only be used at a two-year certificate or degree-awarding
institution
8:40:21 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS mentioned that students' performance in high
school isn't necessarily reflective of how they will do in
college, and he thinks they should be careful not to narrow the
opportunity for those needs-based scholars.
8:40:47 AM
MR. RICHMOND continued his analysis and noted that there are
very few differences between the CS and the governor's bill from
this point forward.
- Section 5, page 12, allows for students to attend part-time
and receive a pro-rata distribution, but "part-time" is not
defined; it actually says "half-time".
- The program terminates six years after graduation. Students
are eligible for eight semesters at an academic institution
under the governor's program; under the proposed CS, that
applies to performance and opportunity scholarships as
well. Students who are granted career scholarships are
eligible for two years.
It is not clear what would happen if a top-notch scholar
wanted to go to a career school, or a career student
changed course and wanted to enter an academic program.
- Awards cannot exceed the cost of attendance under either
version of the bill.
8:43:51 AM
SENATOR STEVENS referred to termination six years after
graduation. He asked why it matters if a student decides to get
some life experience before going on to college.
MR. RICHMOND could not speak for the administration on that
issue, but speculated that the intent might be to encourage
students to get started on their education promptly.
8:44:39 AM
MR. RICHMOND returned to his analysis of Section 5.
- Section 5, Page 12, also addresses alternative pathways for
students who do not graduate from a traditional high school
or for some other reason do not qualify for the scholarship
due to circumstances beyond their control. It gives the
department the latitude to establish a make-up procedure or
alternative pathway to allow these students to meet the
requirements.
- Section 5, page 13, defines the types of institutions that
are eligible to receive the monies. These include
regionally accredited academic institutions and/or career
and technical schools certified by the Department of Labor
and Workforce Development (DOLWD).
- Section 5, page 14, states that the Alaska Commission on
Postsecondary Education (ACPE) is responsible to adopt
procedures for payment of scholarship awards to the
institutions. If insufficient funds exist to pay all
eligible scholarships, the awards will be pro-rated. The
amount available is 5 percent of a three-year average of
the governor's fund.
- Also on page 14, the bill directs the commission, the
University of Alaska, the Department of Revenue, and the
Department of Labor and Workforce Development to prepare an
annual report on the number of applicants, number and types
of scholarships awarded, the dollar amount of scholarships
awarded and projected, and data trends regarding the goals,
for presentation to the legislature.
- Section 5, page 15, contains a list of definitions.
- Section 6, page 15, provides that students attending
religious schools have to comply with the standards for
reporting students' eligibility, just as districts do.
- Section 7, pages 15 and 16, allows the department to
administer the scholarship as set out in the statute.
- Section 8, beginning on page 16, allows the department to
disburse funds for the scholarship.
- Section 9, page 21, allows the scholarship fund to earn
income, authorizes the commissioner of revenue to carry out
investments in the fund, and defines the usage of the fund.
- Section 10, page 22, empowers the department to set
regulations for the transition into the program and to deal
with anomalies.
8:49:21 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS commented that he didn't hear any mention of
graduate school and asked if Mr. Richmond would address that.
MR. RICHMOND said students are qualified for eight semesters of
academic work, so it depends on how quickly they graduate. If a
student were able to graduate in three years, he or she could
use the scholarship for a year of graduate work.
8:50:10 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said that if the state is going to increase the
academic requirements for high schools, it will create a demand
for more teachers and classrooms, and it will take some time to
ramp up for that. He asked how the state is going help districts
meet the standards.
MR. RICHMOND said the scholarship bill sets the bar and leaves
it to the legislature and the department to figure out how to
reach it. He acknowledged that the governor's bill is a
challenge to the educational structure.
SENATOR HUGGINS pointed out that increasing the number of
teachers and expanding the delivery systems is going to cost
money, so they need to discuss that early on and understand the
magnitude of the task. He went on to say that the governor's
program was designed to get more kids into college or some other
educational program and to improve student achievement in high
school and middle school, and he wondered if they had watered
that down in the CS.
MR. RICHMOND conceded that the CS does lower the standards the
governor submitted, but said they are in line with the standards
of other states that offer a similar type of program.
8:52:56 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS opined that, based on the dismal dropout
statistics and the number of students requiring remedial courses
in college, the legislature needs to take advantage of every
opportunity to improve performance in middle school and
secondary school.
8:53:23 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS reiterated that they need to look at the impacts
on the system in terms of cost and how quickly districts can
meet this standard.
8:53:34 AM
CO-CHAIR MEYER said that when the governor came out with this
bill the goal was pretty simple, to encourage the state's
brightest students to attend colleges in Alaska. He asked
whether students who qualify for both the University of Alaska
Scholars program and the performance scholarship would be
granted both awards.
MR. RICHMOND answered that they cannot have both.
CO-CHAIR MEYER stressed that he wants to make sure they don't
lower their standards in order to provide a needs-based program.
He also expressed concern that they might be eliminating some
good middle-class students by changing the GPA requirement for
the performance scholarship, and suggested that they keep it at
3.0.
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked if a student on an opportunity scholarship
who maintains a 2.5 GPA gets full tuition or just 50 percent.
MR. RICHMOND answered that students who drop below a 2.5 GPA in
college lose their scholarship.
CO-CHAIR MEYER asked if the CS retains the tiers so that an A
student still gets full tuition.
MR. RICHMOND indicated yes.
8:56:08 AM
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said he will try to get information from the
department regarding how many schools will have difficulty
providing the curriculum required under the scholarship plan.
8:56:36 AM
SENATOR DAVIS asked if they will hear from the administration
regarding the CS today.
CO-CHAIR THOMAS said they will have the department speak to it
at the next meeting. [SB 224 was held in committee
8:57:31 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Co-Chair Thomas adjourned the meeting at 8:57 a.m.
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