CSSB 56(EDC): "An Act relating to the Alaska performance scholarship program."
00 CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 56(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 January 15 of each year, a district shall provide to each 31 student in the district who is enrolled in grade nine or grade 10 information about the
01 Alaska performance scholarship. 02 (i) Not later than December 31 of each year, a district shall notify each student 03 in the district who is enrolled in grade 11 of the remaining academic requirements the 04 student must meet to be awarded an Alaska performance scholarship at each level 05 described in AS 14.43.825(a). 06 (j) Not later than August 15 of each year, the commission shall notify each 07 applicant awarded a scholarship under (a) of this section that the applicant has been 08 awarded an Alaska performance scholarship. The notice must 09 (1) identify the Alaska performance scholarship level awarded as 10 described in AS 14.43.825(a); and 11 (2) inform the applicant that 12 (A) the commission may disburse the award only if the 13 applicant meets the requirements described in (m) of this section; and 14 (B) the commission will adjust the applicant's award under the 15 circumstances described in (l) of this section. 16 (k) If a district provides information to or otherwise communicates with a 17 student regarding the Alaska performance scholarship, the district shall also provide 18 information about the requirements to increase an award level under AS 14.43.825(h) 19 - (j). 20 (l) If, at the time an applicant awarded an Alaska performance scholarship 21 graduates from high school, the applicant's grade-point average differs from the grade- 22 point average on which the commission based the applicant's award, the commission 23 shall adjust the applicant's award in accordance with the applicable Alaska 24 performance scholarship level described in AS 14.43.825(a). 25 (m) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, and except as provided in (c) of this 26 section, the commission may disburse an Alaska performance scholarship awarded to 27 an applicant under this section only if the applicant 28 (1) has, at the time of the applicant's graduation from high school, 29 (A) completed the core academic curriculum of high school 30 level coursework described in (a)(3) of this section; and 31 (B) met the minimum
01 (i) grade-point average in high school described in 02 AS 14.43.825(a); or 03 (ii) score on a college entrance examination described 04 in AS 14.43.825(a); and 05 (2) is enrolled in good standing in a course of study at a qualified 06 postsecondary institution in this state that is intended to result in the award of a 07 certificate or degree. 08 * Sec. 4. AS 14.43.825(a) is amended to read: 09 (a) The maximum annual awards for the Alaska performance scholarships are 10 as follows: 11 (1) the first award level is $7,000 [$4,755] and requires a 12 (A) 3.5 grade-point average or above, or the equivalent 13 established under (g) of this section; or [AND] 14 (B) very high minimum score on a college entrance 15 examination; 16 (2) the second award level is $5,250 [$3,566] and requires a 17 (A) 3.0 grade-point average or above, or the equivalent 18 established under (g) of this section; or [AND] 19 (B) high minimum score on a college entrance examination; 20 (3) the third award level is $3,500 [$2,378] and requires a 21 (A) 2.5 grade-point average or above, or the equivalent 22 established under (g) of this section; or [AND] 23 (B) moderately high minimum score on a college entrance 24 examination. 25 * Sec. 5. AS 14.43.825(b) is amended to read: 26 (b) A student's eligibility for a scholarship terminates eight [SIX] years after 27 the date the student graduates from high school unless the student qualifies for an 28 extension of time allowed by the department by regulation. 29 * Sec. 6. AS 14.43.825(c) is amended to read: 30 (c) Except as provided in (b) of this section, a student receiving a scholarship 31 may remain eligible for up to eight semesters of enrollment in good standing at a
01 qualified university or college, which may include graduate courses. A student's 02 eligibility under this subsection is extended by one semester for each semester the 03 student is enrolled part time in good standing at a qualified university or college. 04 * Sec. 7. AS 14.43.825 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 05 (g) For high schools that do not award grades on a four-point scale, or five- 06 point scale for advanced placement classes, the department shall establish by 07 regulation the equivalent rating required for a scholarship awarded under (a)(1)(A), 08 (2)(A), and (3)(A) of this section. 09 (h) Each time a student who is an award recipient completes two semesters of 10 full-time enrollment at a qualified postsecondary institution in this state, the 11 postsecondary institution shall review and notify the commission of the student's 12 postsecondary institution grade-point average. If the student's grades qualify under (i) 13 of this section, the commission shall increase the award level for the student as 14 described in (i) of this section and notify the student of the increase. In this subsection, 15 "full-time enrollment" means enrollment in a course of study that is not less than 15 16 credits. 17 (i) If an award recipient's postsecondary institution grade-point average is 18 (1) 3.5 or above, or the equivalent established under (j) of this section, 19 the commission shall increase the student's award level to the amount described in 20 (a)(1) of this section; 21 (2) 3.0 or above, or the equivalent established under (j) of this section, 22 the commission shall increase the student's award level to the amount described in 23 (a)(2) of this section. 24 (j) For qualified postsecondary institutions that do not award grades on a four- 25 point scale, the commission shall establish by regulation the equivalent rating required 26 to increase an award under (i) of this section. 27 (k) In this section, 28 (1) "award recipient" means a student who has received an Alaska 29 performance scholarship at the second or third award level; 30 (2) "postsecondary institution grade-point average" means the average 31 of all grades on a four-point scale, or the equivalent as established by the commission
01 by regulation, obtained by a student at a qualified postsecondary institution in this 02 state. 03 * Sec. 8. AS 14.43.849(2) is amended to read: 04 (2) "grade-point average" means the average of all grades on a four- 05 point scale, or five-point scale for advanced placement classes, or the equivalent as 06 established by the department by regulation, obtained by the student in high 07 school;