View Bill Status
View Bill Text
View Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact
H0759..........................................................by EDUCATION
SCHOLARSHIPS - Adds to existing law to provide for establishment of local
needs-based scholarship endowment funds by local school boards of trustees;
to provide for annual awards of needs-based scholarships to eligible
students; to provide for annual calculation of the amount of each year's
scholarship; to create an Idaho Needs-Based Scholarship Fund; to provide
definitions; and to appropriate $31.5 million from the General Fund to the
Idaho Needs-Based Scholarship Fund.
03/01 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
03/02 Rpt prt - to Educ
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]]
Fifty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2006
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 759
BY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO SCHOLARSHIPS; AMENDING CHAPTER 5, TITLE 33, IDAHO CODE, BY THE
3 ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 33-522, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR ESTABLISHMENT
4 OF LOCAL NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT FUNDS BY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS OF
5 TRUSTEES, TO PROVIDE FOR ANNUAL AWARDS OF NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS TO ELI-
6 GIBLE STUDENTS, TO PROVIDE FOR ANNUAL CALCULATION OF THE AMOUNT OF EACH
7 YEAR'S SCHOLARSHIPS AND TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS; AMENDING CHAPTER 43, TITLE
8 33, IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 33-4319, IDAHO CODE, TO
9 PROVIDE LEGISLATIVE INTENT, TO CREATE A NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM,
10 TO PROVIDE FOR DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FUND, TO CREATE AN IDAHO NEEDS-BASED
11 SCHOLARSHIP FUND AND TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS; AND APPROPRIATING MONEYS FROM
12 THE GENERAL FUND TO THE IDAHO NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
14 SECTION 1. That Chapter 5, Title 33, Idaho Code, be, and the same is
15 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION, to be known and des-
16 ignated as Section 33-522, Idaho Code, and to read as follows:
17 33-522. LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. (1) Each
18 school district board of trustees shall establish a local needs-based scholar-
19 ship endowment fund for the purpose of administering a local needs-based
20 scholarship program. In order for a school district to receive its proportion-
21 ate share of moneys from the Idaho needs-based scholarship fund in accordance
22 with the provisions of section 33-4319, Idaho Code, it shall first accumulate
23 the moneys necessary to meet the required match of state funds. As determined
24 by the local board, such board shall deposit moneys for that purpose in its
25 scholarship endowment fund. Upon certification to the state board of education
26 pursuant to section 33-4319, Idaho Code, that the local scholarship endowment
27 fund contains the required moneys to meet the state match, the local board
28 shall deposit its distribution from the Idaho needs-based scholarship fund to
29 its local district needs-based scholarship endowment fund. The endowment fund
30 may also consist of appropriations, gifts grants, and donations. The fund
31 principal shall remain inviolate and intact; moneys in the fund shall be
32 invested according to standards provided by law; and interest earned on the
33 investments shall be returned to the fund. Only the interest earned on the
34 fund principal shall be used to provide scholarships for eligible students.
35 (2) A local board of trustees shall annually award scholarships to eligi-
36 ble students. The dollar amount of each year's scholarships shall be deter-
37 mined by dividing the interest earned on the principal of the endowment fund
38 available at the time of awarding that year's scholarships, by the number of
39 students eligible for a scholarship in that year. Scholarship awards shall
40 only be used to defray tuition costs at a qualifying postsecondary institution
41 in Idaho and shall not be used for any other purpose. The local board of
42 trustees shall adopt procedures to ensure that the needs-based scholarship
43 program is implemented according to the provisions of this section and appli-
2
1 cable portions of section 33-4319, Idaho Code.
2 (3) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
3 apply:
4 (a) "Eligible student" means a senior student graduating from a public
5 secondary high school in the state of Idaho who has applied for admission,
6 or has been accepted to, a qualifying postsecondary school, whose house-
7 hold family income does not exceed one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the
8 per capita income of the county in which the secondary high school from
9 which the student is graduating is located, and who has not received nor
10 expects to receive scholarship or grant money from any other source.
11 (b) "Qualifying postsecondary school" means an Idaho public or private
12 postsecondary institution of higher learning approved by the state board
13 of education and board of regents of the university of Idaho, and includes
14 a community college or a professional-technical school.
15 SECTION 2. That Chapter 43, Title 33, Idaho Code, be, and the same is
16 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION, to be known and des-
17 ignated as Section 33-4319, Idaho Code, and to read as follows:
18 33-4319. IDAHO NEEDS-BASED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM -- FUND CREATED.
19 (1) Intent. It is the intent of the legislature to offer financial assistance
20 to eligible Idaho students who are graduating from an Idaho public secondary
21 school and who intend to immediately continue their education at an eligible
22 postsecondary institution in Idaho. The legislature recognizes that existing
23 scholarship programs in Idaho do not provide the funding necessary to support
24 all students with financial need. By establishing an Idaho needs-based schol-
25 arship fund, it is the intent of the legislature to provide an additional
26 source of educational financial assistance to needs-based students who have
27 not received any other scholarship or grant moneys to further their educa-
28 tional goals.
29 (2) Needs-based scholarship program. Each school district in the state is
30 eligible to receive moneys from the Idaho needs-based scholarship fund in the
31 proportion that the number of students enrolled in the district bears to the
32 total number of students enrolled in all school districts of the state. Stu-
33 dent enrollment, for calculation of each school district's proportionate
34 share, shall be based on the total average daily attendance of the school dis-
35 trict that is used to compute the state distribution factor for the February
36 2006 payment to school districts pursuant to section 33-1009, Idaho Code. The
37 board shall distribute to a local school district its proportionate share of
38 moneys from the fund, created in subsection (3) of this section, upon receiv-
39 ing certification from the board of trustees of the local school district that
40 the trustees have:
41 (a) Established a local needs-based scholarship endowment fund for the
42 purpose of administering a local district needs-based scholarship program
43 and to which the state funds will be deposited; and
44 (b) Raised matching funds in an amount at least equal to the amount the
45 district is entitled to receive from the Idaho needs-based scholarship
46 fund, and that such matching moneys have been deposited to the district's
47 local needs-based scholarship endowment fund.
48 Distribution of moneys from the state fund shall continue until all school
49 districts have met the requirements for receiving their proportionate share of
50 moneys, or until June 30, 2010. Any moneys remaining in the fund on June 30,
51 2010, shall be distributed to those school districts that have previously
52 qualified for and received a distribution from the fund, in the proportion
53 that the number of students enrolled in such a qualifying district bears to
3
1 the total number of students enrolled in all such qualifying school districts
2 of the state. Student enrollment, for calculation of each qualifying school
3 district's proportionate share, shall be based on the total average daily
4 attendance of the qualifying school district that is used to compute the state
5 distribution factor for the February 2010 payment to school districts pursuant
6 to section 33-1009, Idaho Code.
7 (3) Fund. There is hereby created in the state treasury the Idaho needs-
8 based scholarship fund. The fund shall be administered by the state board of
9 education and the board of regents of the university of Idaho and shall con-
10 sist of moneys received by a one-time appropriation from the general fund. The
11 board shall distribute moneys from the fund to local school district boards of
12 trustees in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section,
13 and by June 30, 2010, the board shall cause final distributions to be made
14 from the fund as provided in subsection (2) of this section. The state trea-
15 surer shall invest moneys in the fund, and until the final distributions are
16 made from the fund, interest earned on the investments shall be returned to
17 the fund. The board is authorized to promulgate rules as necessary to imple-
18 ment the provisions of this section.
19 (4) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following defini-
20 tions shall apply:
21 (a) "Board" means the state board of education and board of regents of
22 the university of Idaho.
23 (b) "Fund" means the Idaho needs-based scholarship fund created in the
24 state treasury and administered by the board.
25 SECTION 3. There is hereby transferred and appropriated $31,500,000 from
26 the General Fund to the Idaho Needs-Based Scholarship Fund.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 16120
The purpose of this legislation is to establish an endowed
needs-based Idaho Scholarship Fund and to set guidelines by which
the funds will be dispersed and administered.
FISCAL NOTE
There is a one-time fiscal impact of $31.5 million on the general
fund.
Contact
Name: Representative Joseph Cannon
Phone: 332-1000
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 759