HB 148: "An Act relating to the Alaska performance scholarship program."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 148 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 18 [SIX] months from a high 08 school in the state; 09 (3) except as provided in (c) of this section, has completed, is enrolled 10 in, or plans to enroll in a core academic curriculum of high school level coursework 11 that includes 12 (A) four years of mathematics, four years of language arts, four 13 years of science, and four years of social studies, one year of which may 14 include a foreign language, an Alaska Native language, fine arts, [OR] cultural 15 heritage, or career and technical education; [OR]
01 (B) three years of mathematics, four years of language arts, 02 three years of science, four years of social studies, and two years of 03 (i) a foreign language or an Alaska Native language; or 04 (ii) career and technical education, one year of 05 which includes two semesters of sequentially more rigorous content 06 within a career cluster; or 07 (C) three years of mathematics, four years of language arts, 08 three years of science, four years of social studies, one year of which may 09 be career and technical education, and two years of a foreign language or 10 an Alaska Native language; and 11 (4) has a minimum grade-point average in high school of 2.5 or higher; 12 the department shall set by regulation minimum requirements based on a substantially 13 similar standard for districts that do not assign grades [; 14 (5) HAS ACHIEVED A MINIMUM SCORE ON A 15 (A) COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION; OR 16 (B) STANDARDIZED EXAMINATION DESIGNED TO 17 MEASURE A STUDENT'S LEVEL OF PREPAREDNESS TO MAKE THE 18 TRANSITION TO WORK, AS SELECTED BY THE DEPARTMENT; AND 19 (6) IS ENROLLED IN GOOD STANDING IN A COURSE OF 20 STUDY AT A QUALIFIED POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTION IN THIS STATE 21 THAT IS INTENDED TO RESULT IN THE AWARD OF A CERTIFICATE OR 22 DEGREE]. 23 * Sec. 2. AS 14.43.820(g) is amended to read: 24 (g) In this section, 25 (1) "career cluster" means a group of jobs and industries that are 26 related by skills or products; 27 (2) "district" has the meaning given in AS 14.17.990. 28 * Sec. 3. AS 14.43.820 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 29 (h) Not later than December 31 of each year, a district shall notify each 30 student in the district who is enrolled in grade 11 of the remaining academic 31 requirements the student must meet to be awarded an Alaska performance scholarship
01 at each level described in AS 14.43.825(a). 02 (i) Not later than August 15 of each year, the commission shall notify each 03 applicant awarded a scholarship under (a) of this section that the applicant has been 04 awarded an Alaska performance scholarship. The notice must 05 (1) identify the Alaska performance scholarship level awarded as 06 described in AS 14.43.825(a); and 07 (2) inform the applicant that 08 (A) the commission may disburse the award only if the 09 applicant meets the requirements described in (l) of this section; and 10 (B) the commission will adjust the applicant's award under the 11 circumstances described in (k) of this section. 12 (j) If a district provides information to or otherwise communicates with a 13 student regarding the Alaska performance scholarship, the district shall also provide 14 information about the requirements to increase an award level under AS 14.43.825(g) 15 and (h). 16 (k) If, at the time an applicant awarded an Alaska performance scholarship 17 graduates from high school, the applicant's grade-point average differs from the grade- 18 point average on which the commission based the applicant's award, the commission 19 shall adjust the applicant's award in accordance with the applicable Alaska 20 performance scholarship level described in AS 14.43.825(a). 21 (l) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, and except as provided in (c) of this 22 section, the commission may disburse an Alaska performance scholarship awarded to 23 an applicant under this section only if the applicant 24 (1) has, at the time of the applicant's graduation from high school, 25 (A) completed the core academic curriculum of high school 26 level coursework described in (a)(3) of this section; and 27 (B) met the minimum grade-point average in high school 28 described in (a)(4) of this section; and 29 (2) is enrolled in good standing in a course of study at a qualified 30 postsecondary institution in this state that is intended to result in the award of a 31 certificate or degree.
01 * Sec. 4. AS 14.43.825(a) is amended to read: 02 (a) The maximum annual awards for the Alaska performance scholarships are 03 as follows: 04 (1) the first award level is $7,000 [$4,755] and requires a 05 [(A)] 3.5 grade-point average or above [; AND 06 (B) VERY HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A COLLEGE 07 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]; 08 (2) the second award level is $5,250 [$3,566] and requires a 09 [(A)] 3.0 grade-point average or above [; AND 10 (B) HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A COLLEGE 11 ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]; 12 (3) the third award level is $3,500 [$2,378] and requires a 13 [(A)] 2.5 grade-point average or above [; AND 14 (B) MODERATELY HIGH MINIMUM SCORE ON A 15 COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION]. 16 * Sec. 5. AS 14.43.825(b) is amended to read: 17 (b) A student's eligibility for a scholarship terminates eight [SIX] years after 18 the date the student graduates from high school unless the student qualifies for an 19 extension of time allowed by the department by regulation. 20 * Sec. 6. AS 14.43.825 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 21 (g) Each time a student who is an award recipient completes two semesters of 22 full-time enrollment at a qualified university or college in this state, the commission 23 shall review the student's university or college grade-point average and, if the student's 24 grades qualify under (h) of this section, increase the award level for the student as 25 described in (h) of this section and notify the student of the increase. In this 26 subsection, "full-time enrollment" means enrollment in a course of study that is not 27 less than 15 credits. 28 (h) If an award recipient's university or college grade-point average is 29 (1) 3.5 or above, the commission shall increase the student's award 30 level to the amount described in (a)(1) of this section; 31 (2) 3.0 or above, the commission shall increase the student's award
01 level to the amount described in (a)(2) of this section. 02 (i) In this section, 03 (1) "award recipient" means a student who has received an Alaska 04 performance scholarship at the second or third award level; 05 (2) "university or college grade-point average" means the average of 06 all grades on a four-point scale obtained by a student at a qualified university or 07 college in this state.