SENATE BILL REPORT
SB 6697
BYSenators Fleming, Garrett and Talmadge
Creating an educational achievement program.
Senate Committee on Education
Senate Hearing Date(s):February 4, 1988
Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 6697 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means.
Signed by Senators Bailey, Chairman; Kiskaddon, Vice Chairman; Bauer, Bender, Gaspard, Lee, Rinehart.
Senate Staff:Larry Davis (786-7422)
February 9, 1988
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 4, 1988
BACKGROUND:
The Washington State and Employers Higher Education Opportunities Program was established in 1987 to provide higher educational opportunities for low-income working persons and single heads of households. High school students who may be from low-income families, single head of household families, or from an underrepresented group could benefit from a similar higher educational opportunities program.
SUMMARY:
The Washington State Higher Education Achievement Pilot Program is created and will be administered by the Higher Education Coordinating (HEC) Board.
The program must be developed with the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), the Association of Washington School Principals, and other state agencies and private organizations.
The board must appoint an advisory committee to develop criteria for screening and selection of awards. Members shall include persons from selected state agencies and private organizations.
Names of graduating high school students identified by teachers, counselors or principals must be submitted to the board by March 1, 1989. In selecting students to receive awards the board must consider the candidate's family income, potential for succeeding in college and if from an underrepresented group. Academic qualifications shall not be the sole criteria for selection.
The board may select up to 50 students for waivers of tuition and service and activities fees at the state's community colleges, four-year higher education institutions and the public vocational technical institutes. The waivers shall be for two years, a maximum of six quarters or four semesters, and the recipients must enter the institutions within three years of high school graduation.
The waivers may be transferred from one institution to another if the student transfers. Recipients must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.5 and shall be placed on probation if they do not meet the 2.5 GPA requirement in the first three quarters or two semesters.
The board must provide, upon written request and with student permission, a listing of the recipients to private scholarship selection committees. The board may accept gifts, grants and bequests from private sources for scholarship awards.
The board must report to the Legislature by January, 1991 on the program. The pilot program will expire February 1, 1991.
EFFECT OF PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE:
The Higher Education Coordinating (HEC) Board will appoint a planning committee rather than an advisory committee and the planning committee is limited to developing criteria only for screening candidates rather than also developing criteria for selecting candidates.
The size of the planning committee will be determined by the board but members must represent the board, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education, high school principals, counselors and teachers, higher education institutions and public vocational-technical institutes, private organizations, and state agencies responsible for addressing Hispanics, Asian-American, and Indian affairs.
Factors which the board must consider in selecting recipients are modified to include whether the students meet statutory definitions of "targeted ethnic minority" and "needy student," and whether the student is from a single head of household family.
A deadline of May 1, 1989 is established by which the board must select recipients.
In order to qualify for the waivers of fees at a public vocational technical institute or waivers of tuition and service and activities fees at state institutions of higher education, recipients must enroll within ten years rather than three years of high school graduation.
A student who enrolls with one year left in the pilot program shall be eligible for the equivalent of two years of waivers provided the student satisfies the grade point average requirement.
The waivers provided by the state institutions of higher education are exempted from the statutory 4 percent lid on providing waivers of tuition and service and activities fees.
The board shall additionally provide the names of candidates not selected to receive an award to public and private sources of scholarships by request of such sources and with permission of the students.
The board must report to the Legislature by January 1, 1992 rather than by January of 1991, on the results of the program. The program will expire January 15, 1992, rather than February 1, 1991.
The section authorizing the board to accept gifts, grants, and bequests from private sources for scholarship awards under the pilot program is deleted.
Appropriation: none
Revenue: none
Fiscal Note: requested February 2, 1988
Senate Committee - Testified: Steve Garcia, Office of Minority Affairs, U.W. (for); Tawnya Trevino, Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs (for); Lois Hayasaka, Commission on Asian American Affairs (for)