Bill equalizing eligibility for lottery awards passes
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill lowering the requirements for home-schooled students to get a lottery college scholarship passed a Senate committee Wednesday.
Currently, those students must score a 23 on the ACT college entrance exam to qualify, while students attending traditional schools need either a 19 ACT score or a 3.0 high school grade-point average.
The bill Wednesday made requirements the same for all students.
The discrepancy was part of last year’s legislation establishing the lottery and the scholarships it funds. When lawmakers changed the requirement that traditional students have both a 19 ACT score and 3.0 GPA, they didn’t equalize the requirements for home-schooled students.
The Senate Education Committee voted 8-0 in favor of the bill, with one member, Sen. Ben Atchley, declaring himself present but not voting. The bill hasn’t been scheduled for debate in the House.
Tennessee students who graduate from high school this year, along with current college freshmen, will be the first eligible to receive the scholarships. Students attending four-year state colleges and universities in Tennessee can get up to $3,000 to attend four-year institutions in Tennessee, while those enrolled in two-year community colleges can get $1,500.
Along with lowering home-school student requirements, the bill would make several other changes to the lottery law, including allowing children whose parents were Tennessee residents before becoming active in the military eligible for a lottery-funded award.
It also would allow some Tennessee students who attended out-of-state high schools to qualify. Many residents of Ardmore, on the Tennessee-Alabama border, send their children to school in Alabama because it is closer.
“These are Tennessee residents who go to school for convenience purposes in schools outside Tennessee,” bill sponsor Sen. Steve Cohen told the committee. “I think that’s equity” to make them eligible for the scholarships.
In addition, the bill would allow Tennessee residents’ children who attend boarding schools in other states to receive awards if they meet all other criteria.
“These students are bright kids,” Cohen said. “If we can lure them back (here) that’s a wonderful thing. Their parents are still Tennesseans.”
Cohen urged the committee not to enact other changes that would increase the money needed for the scholarships and take lottery proceeds away from after-school and pre-kindergarten programs.
“I would hope you wouldn’t approve any of those bills,” he said.
Despite that, Atchley brought up a separate bill that would allow high school students with a 3.0 GPA who are taking a vocational classes — instead of the currently required college core — to qualify for an award. Those students must now make a 19 on the ACT exam to receive a scholarship.
“I’ve got to speak up for these students because I think they’re being denied an opportunity by choosing that track,” said Atchley, R-Knoxville.
Cohen fired back, telling Atchley that since he didn’t vote in favor of the lottery law itself he shouldn’t be able to have a say on expanding it.
“We’ve watered this down enough already, the standards are already lower than they should be,” he said. “… If they don’t make a 19 on the ACT, they’re not going to cut it (in college).”
Atchley’s request to delay for one week a vote on Cohen’s bill was denied, sending it on to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.
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Read SB2114/HB2134 at Tennessee General Assembly, www.legislature.state.tn.us