The state Department of Higher Education expects to use $1.6 million of the state's rainy-day funds to provide about 160 more Governor's Distinguished Scholarships this year than the 300 or so it usually funds each year, the department's director told lawmakers Thursday.
The scholarships pay up to $10,000 per year for tuition, fees and room and board at public or private colleges or universities in the state. The scholarship requires recipients to enroll in the fall semester immediately after high school graduation, according to the state Higher Education Department.
Department Director Shane Broadway said 466 of the 535 students who qualified for the scholarship have followed through with acceptance.
"We had more students qualify than ever for the Governor's Distinguished [Scholarship] by a long shot," he told the Legislative Council's Subcommittee on Higher Education. About 120 more students qualified for the scholarship this year than last year, he said.
In April, the Legislative Council voted to approve Gov. Mike Beebe's request to use up to $2 million of the state's rainy-day funds to offer up to 200 more scholarships, after Broadway told the council that the department didn't have enough money to provide the scholarships to everyone who qualified.
To receive the scholarship, students must score 32 or higher on a single ACT college admission exam or get a combined score of 1,410 from the math and critical-reasoning sections of the SAT. The scholarship also requires a grade-point average of 3.5 or above or selection as a National Merit Finalist or National Achievement Finalist, according to the department.
The department already receives about $12 million a year in state funds for the scholarship program, Broadway said.
The department will ask the 2015 Legislature to provide $1.6 million a year in general revenue for the program "so we can keep these kids on [the program] and take on another class," he said.
"Certainly, it is a good sign that we are seeing this," Broadway said.
"We are seeing more students eligible and fewer students appearing to go out of state," he said.
The jump in eligibility may mean that college entrance examination scores are climbing, Broadway said
"We'll know a little bit more hopefully next month" after he and the state's education commissioner, Tony Wood, meet with ACT officials to get information about the state's ACT scores, Broadway said.
"My answer is we are just doing better. Our students are doing better," he said.
State Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, said the department's "one-stop shop" for students to apply for the state's various scholarships has generated more publicity for the award.
State Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, wondered whether Broadway had any theories about why more of the students who qualified for the scholarship decided to attend college in Arkansas this year rather than go out of state to attend college.
Broadway said the state's higher education institutions would cite their prestige as one reason.
"They have gotten more competitive as well in terms of what they are able to offer on top of the Governor's Distinguished [Scholarship]," he said.
"Depending on where they were going to go, you have got several states that have made drastic budget cuts and so ... a lot of them have had to reduce the number of students that they are admitting," said Broadway.
State Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home, said the high school graduates who qualified for the scholarship this year were in second grade about a decade ago when "many of the reforms in education were implemented and we got a little bit more serious about what we were doing in education.
"That's when we started the AP [Advanced Placement] requirement. Some districts didn't even offer AP courses," said Key, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
"We did something right, and this is just an indicator of that," he said.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, said the 2003 and 2004 special session "was a painful time, but the baby has been birthed" and it's helping produce results "we can be proud of."
That special session lasted 61 days -- the longest special session in at least the past 61 years on the basis of state records.
Among other things, the actions in the special session included a record $370 million tax increase to boost state funding for public schools and a law requiring school districts with fewer than 350 students to consolidate with other districts.
The actions came after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the state's public school system was inadequate, inequitable and unconstitutional.
Metro on 07/18/2014