Senate passes HOPE bill with some changes

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By Laura Diamond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The HOPE scholarship would cover all tuition for Georgia’s high school valedictorians and salutatorians through an amendment the Senate approved Tuesday to the massive overhaul of the lottery-funded program.

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Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com Authorities move in Tuesday as college protestors yell "Kill the bill!" during Senate debate over the HOPE scholarship.

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Jason Getz, jgetz@ajc.com The students were then arrested for the disruption.

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Georgia State University junior Jasmin Jennings, left, holds a sign that says "Hope is our only Hope" during a rally Tuesday at the Capitol to protest proposed changes to the HOPE Scholarship. Also pictured are sophomore Rick Busby and senior Jessica Baer.

Jason Getz jgetz@ajc.com Georgia State University junior Jasmin Jennings, left, holds a sign that says "Hope is our only Hope" during a rally Tuesday at the Capitol to protest proposed changes to the HOPE Scholarship. Also pictured are sophomore Rick Busby and senior Jessica Baer.

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After nearly four hours of debate, the Senate voted 35-20 along party lines to pass House Bill 326, which would cut the amount of the scholarship for all but the very brightest students and make other changes to keep the program from going broke.

Some college students were tossed out of the Senate gallery for disrupting the debate. One student was arrested, and others were led off grounds by Capitol police. Students hissed when lawmakers mentioned changes that they didn’t like and snapped for those they supported. Some chanted: “Kill the bill!”

Senators approved four Republican-backed amendments to the bill, including offering low-interest loans to cover the difference between tuition and the amount of the HOPE award.

Students who maintain a 3.0 GPA would still get HOPE, but it wouldn’t cover all tuition. Instead, the amount would be tied to lottery revenue and could vary annually. For this fall, students would receive 90 percent of current tuition rates, meaning the scholarship wouldn’t cover double-digit hikes expected at some campuses.

Another amendment would extend a new Zell Miller Scholarship to the top two graduates from each high school. Earlier versions of the bill would award the full-tuition scholarships only to those who graduate from high school with at least a 3.7 GPA and a math and verbal SAT score of 1200 or an ACT score of 26. Now both groups of high-achievers would be eligible. To keep the award, they would have to maintain a 3.3 GPA in college.

The debate highlighted the different philosophies Republicans and Democrats have toward the scholarship. Republicans tend to view HOPE as a purely merit-based program, while many Democrats say additional steps must be taken to protect poor, rural and minority students.

Four Democrat-backed amendments, including establishing an income cap and exempting current HOPE recipients from the changes, were defeated.

Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, argued that high-achieving students have upheld their end of the bargain and the state must do the same.

“It is a question of fairness,” he said. “There is no doubt that if we cut HOPE ... there will be some students who won’t graduate from college because they can’t afford it.”

Sen. Jim Butterworth, R-Cornelia, chairman of the Higher Education Committee, said no bill is perfect but the amended bill is close to perfect.

“We are fixing this bill for generations,” he said. “We are not losing HOPE.”

HOPE is funded by the Georgia Lottery, but revenue has been fairly flat in recent years. The state relied on reserves to cover costs as tuition and enrollments rose, but those reserves are running empty.

HB 326 must return to the House because of the changes made by the Senate. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, the bill’s sponsor, said he did not expect any problems and that it could be taken up Thursday. The bill received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House.

The bill would eliminate money for books and mandatory fees. The scholarship would only cover remedial courses offered in the technical college system, not the University System of Georgia. Students currently have unlimited chances to regain the scholarship, but under HB 326 they would have just one.

It would also cut the commission retailers receive and scale back bonuses for lottery officials.

Nnamdi Azih receives HOPE and holds a job to afford going to Georgia State University. The sophomore understood cuts are needed, but he questioned why students must pay for it.

“It’s already a struggle to go to school, and this will just make it harder,” the biology major said. “I need to do well in school, but what I need to do to stay in school may make that impossible.”