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