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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 27 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBills would make more students eligible for HOPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bills that would make more high school students eligible for the lottery-funded HOPE Scholarship were approved separately in the state House and Senate today.
Senators also approved a resolution that would limit lottery funding to HOPE grants and scholarships and to pre-kindergarten classes, making capital projects and technology spending for grades kindergarten through 12 ineligible.
Today is “crossover day,” meaning legislation that passed crossed over to the other chamber and stayed alive.
The House passed a bill 164-1 that would allow homeschooled students, students from nontraditional schools, and holders of a general equivalency diploma to qualify for the HOPE Scholarship if they scored in the 85th percentile on a national test, such as the SAT or the ACT.
Currently, a student who didn’t graduate with a B average from a traditional high school cannot get the scholarship until completing 30 semester hours in college and earning a 3.0. For many of those students, getting HOPE money retroactively is a financial hardship.
In the Senate, a bill unanimously passed that would weight honors courses, helping more students qualify for the HOPE Scholarship.
HOPE eligibility changes this year to a 3.0 grade point standard rather than a numerical grade of at least 80. Unlike in previous years, the Georgia Student Finance Commission will calculate the grades.
As it stands now, honors courses will not be weighted because there are no minimum state standards for those courses. Without those extra half credits, a higher percentage of students is likely to fall below the HOPE standard than in previous years.
“Students will not qualify for HOPE as a result of their desire to challenge themselves and take more difficult courses,” Sen. Michael Meyer von Bremen (D-Albany), sponsor of Senate Bill 75, told fellow lawmakers.
Meyer von Bremen’s bill also would require the state to develop minimum standards for honors courses by the end of 2009.
He said his bill is intended to correct an “inadvertent mistake” made when lawmakers raised the HOPE eligibility standard.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Education
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By MidGa
March 28, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
Any idea whether this could spark an equal-protection lawsuit from a student at an accredited public/private school who has below a B average there but makes a high enough score on one of the tests?