CSSSHB 48(EDC): "An Act relating to the Alaska performance scholarship program."
00 CS FOR SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 48(EDC) 01 "An Act relating to the Alaska performance scholarship program." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 14.43.820(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) Subject to appropriation, the commission shall award an Alaska 05 performance scholarship to an applicant who 06 (1) is a resident of the state as defined in AS 01.10.055; 07 (2) graduated or will graduate within 12 [SIX] months from a high 08 school in the state; 09 (3) except as provided in (c) of this section, has completed or is 10 enrolled in a core academic curriculum of high school level coursework that includes 11 (A) four years of mathematics, four years of language arts, four 12 years of science, and four years of social studies, one year of which may 13 include a foreign language, an Alaska Native language, fine arts, [OR] cultural 14 heritage, or career and technical education; [OR] 15 (B) three years of mathematics, four years of language arts,
01 three years of science, four years of social studies, and two years of 02 (i) a foreign language or an Alaska Native language; or 03 (ii) career and technical education, one year of 04 which includes two semesters of sequentially more rigorous content 05 within a career cluster; or 06 (C) three years of mathematics, four years of language arts, 07 three years of science, four years of social studies, one year of which may 08 be career and technical education, and two years of a foreign language or 09 an Alaska Native language; and 10 (4) has a minimum grade-point average in high school of 2.5 or higher; 11 the department shall set by regulation minimum requirements based on a substantially 12 similar standard for districts that do not assign grades [; 13 (5) HAS ACHIEVED A MINIMUM SCORE ON A 14 (A) COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION; OR 15 (B) STANDARDIZED EXAMINATION DESIGNED TO 16 MEASURE A STUDENT'S LEVEL OF PREPAREDNESS TO MAKE THE 17 TRANSITION TO WORK, AS SELECTED BY THE DEPARTMENT; AND 18 (6) IS ENROLLED IN GOOD STANDING IN A COURSE OF 19 STUDY AT A QUALIFIED POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTION IN THIS STATE 20 THAT IS INTENDED TO RESULT IN THE AWARD OF A CERTIFICATE OR 21 DEGREE]. 22 * Sec. 2. AS 14.43.820(g) is amended to read: 23 (g) In this section, 24 (1) "career cluster" means a group of jobs and industries that are 25 related by skills or products; 26 (2) "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 27 * Sec. 3. AS 14.43.820 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 28 (h) Not later than January 31 of each year, a district shall notify each student 29 in the district who is enrolled in grade 11 of the remaining academic requirements the 30 student must meet to be awarded an Alaska performance scholarship at each level 31 described in AS 14.43.825(a).
01 (i) Not later than September 30 of each year, the commission shall notify each 02 applicant awarded a scholarship under (a) of this section that the applicant has been 03 awarded an Alaska performance scholarship. The notice must 04 (1) identify the Alaska performance scholarship level awarded as 05 described in AS 14.43.825(a); and 06 (2) inform the applicant that 07 (A) the commission may disburse the award only if the 08 applicant meets the requirements described in (k) of this section; and 09 (B) the commission will adjust the applicant's award under the 10 circumstances described in (j) of this section. 11 (j) If, at the time an applicant awarded an Alaska performance scholarship 12 graduates from high school, the applicant's grade-point average differs from the grade- 13 point average on which the commission based the applicant's award, the commission 14 shall adjust the applicant's award in accordance with the applicable Alaska 15 performance scholarship level described in AS 14.43.825(a). 16 (k) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, and except as provided in (c) of this 17 section, the commission may disburse an Alaska performance scholarship awarded to 18 an applicant under this section only if the applicant 19 (1) has, at the time of the applicant's graduation from high school, 20 (A) completed the core academic curriculum of high school 21 level coursework described in (a)(3) of this section; and 22 (B) met the minimum grade-point average in high school 23 described in (a)(4) of this section; and 24 (2) is enrolled in good standing in a course of study at a qualified 25 postsecondary institution in this state that is intended to result in the award of a 26 certificate or degree. 27 * Sec. 4. AS 14.43.825(a) is amended to read: 28 (a) The maximum annual awards for the Alaska performance scholarships are 29 as follows: 30 (1) the first award level is $7,000 [$4,755] and requires a 31 [(A)] 3.5 grade-point average or above [; AND
01 (B) VERY HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A COLLEGE 02 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]; 03 (2) the second award level is $5,250 [$3,566] and requires a 04 [(A)] 3.0 grade-point average or above [; AND 05 (B) HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A COLLEGE 06 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]; 07 (3) the third award level is $3,500 [$2,378] and requires a 08 [(A)] 2.5 grade-point average or above [; AND 09 (B) MODERATELY HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A 10 COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]. 11 * Sec. 5. AS 14.43.825(b) is amended to read: 12 (b) A student's eligibility for a scholarship terminates eight [SIX] years after 13 the date the student graduates from high school unless the student qualifies for an 14 extension of time allowed by the department by regulation.