FINAL BILL REPORT

ESSB 6436

C 215 L 14

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Creating a work group to make recommendations for the continued viability of the college bound scholarship program.

Sponsors: Senate Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Senators Frockt, Bailey, Kohl-Welles and Hargrove).

Senate Committee on Higher Education

House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Education

Background: The Washington College Bound Scholarship Program (program) was created in 2007. Students are eligible if they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. To be awarded the scholarship, an eligible student must pledge, during grade seven or eight, that they will (1) graduate from high school; (2) graduate with a C average; and (3) not have any felony convictions. To receive the scholarship, the student must have kept the pledge, have a family income at high school graduation below 65 percent of the state median, and be a resident student.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction notifies schools about the program, and the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) develops and distributes the pledge forms, tracks scholarship recipients, and distributes scholarship funds.

The scholarship is equal to the difference between the cost of the student's tuition and fees at a public college or university, plus $500 for books and materials, and minus the value of any other state financial aid received for those items. The maximum award is for four years. The first scholarships were awarded to students who graduated in 2012. In the 2012-13 academic year, 4,690 students received a scholarship. The 2013-15 budget appropriated just over $36 million for the program.

Summary: The Legislature finds that emerging data on the program shows it is a success, but the program faces long-term challenges. Therefore, the Legislature intends to create a work group that will make recommendations to ensure the program is viable, productive, and effective.

A College Bound Scholarship Program Work Group is established with the following eleven members to be appointed by June 30, 2014:

• two from the House of Representatives, one from each major caucus;

• two from the Senate, one from each major caucus;

• one from the four-year institutions of higher education to be selected by the Council of Presidents;

• one from the two-year institutions of higher education to be selected by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges;

• one from a private, nonprofit higher education institution to be selected by an association of independent nonprofit baccalaureate degree-granting institutions;

• one from WSAC;

• one from a private nonprofit college scholarship organization;

• one nonlegislative member to be appointed by the Governor; and

• one from the middle school system.

The work group must submit a report by December 31, 2014, to the Governor and appropriate committees of the Legislature with recommendations for making the program viable, including but not limited to funding.

The work group must meet at least once, but no more than five times, and is staffed jointly by Senate Committee Services in the Senate and the Office of Program Research in the House of Representatives. The Office of Financial Management will present necessary data.

Votes on Final Passage: