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September 13, 2005
University of Wyoming Outreach Building
Casper, Wyoming
Senators: Tex Boggs and Charles Scott
Representatives: Steve Harshman and Jeff Wasserburger
Other members: State Superintendent Jim McBride, Reed Eckhardt, Andrew Hansen, Tom Kinnison, Dr. Joe Megeath, Bryan Monteith and Marta Stroock
Dave Gruver
Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.
All meeting materials and handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office (LSO), public officials, lobbyists, and the public are referenced in the Meeting Materials Index, attached to the minutes. These materials are on file at the LSO and are part of the official record of the meeting. The agenda which was followed is attached as appendix 2.
Cochairman Boggs called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. Minutes from the August meeting were approved.
Rick Miller and Sue Koller, University of Wyoming, provided information on the University's cost model for the Hathaway scholarship program. Mr. Miller explained that actions taken at the last meeting and different assumptions made, resulted in the proposed program costing approximately $19 million versus the approximately $15 million estimated at the last meeting. Ms. Koller provided information on the latest version of the cost model using the last draft bill. (Appendix 3) Mr. Miller provided examples of adjustments that could be made to reduce the overall program cost to approximately $16 million.
Senator Scott noted the options before the Committee, ranging from leaving the bill as written in anticipation of the constitutional amendment being passed, thereby potentially increasing investment earnings for the program, to reducing the amount of the scholarships or raising eligibility requirements.
After calling for and receiving no public testimony, the Committee began working a number of written proposed amendments. (Appendix 4 contains the amendments, appendix 5 is the bill draft.) The following actions were taken on those amendments in the order indicated:
Amendment 4 – Moved by Mr. Kinnison and seconded by Representative Wasserburger. Senator Scott moved to divide the amendment to address the curriculum exception first and the remainder of the amendment next. The first division of the amendment passed. The Committee discussed the second portion of the amendment, which was whether to exclude GED recipients from the ACT and WORKKEYS test scores. That part of the amendment failed.
Amendment 2 - Cochairman Boggs explained that the amendment would exempt certificate seeking students from the University's assured admissions curriculum requirement. That requirement goes beyond the curriculum requirements for graduation from high school in Wyoming. Senator Scott moved the amendment, Mr. Megeath seconded. Senator Scott noted that while the amendment states there shall be no curriculum requirement for certificate seeking students, there is a curriculum requirement as a practical matter to graduate from high school initially. The amendment passed.
Amendment 12 – Cochairman Boggs explained the three alternatives presented to address the student who attends a post-secondary institution after high school but prior to receiving a Hathaway scholarship. As drafted, the bill would not consider that attendance in any fashion. The student would simply be eligible or not based upon the other criteria, high school GPA, test scores, time from graduation, etc. Alternative A clarified that the cumulative GPA to maintain a Hathaway scholarship is only that at eligible institutions after initially receiving a Hathaway scholarship. Thus semesters before receiving a scholarship regardless of whether or where a person attended post-secondary education would not be considered. Senator Scott moved alternative A, Mr. Megeath seconded. The motion passed.
Amendment 24 – The amendment was moved by Eckhardt, seconded by Mr. Kinnison. The amendment would disqualify a person from receiving a Hathaway scholarship if he was three or more months delinquent in child support. The disqualification would remain until all past due child support was paid. Cochairman Harshman moved to divide the amendment asking for division 1 to be the amendment through page 24-line 3. That part of the amendment passed, as did the second division.
Amendment 11 – The amendment was moved by Senator Scott, seconded by Cochairman Harshman. It would require students enrolled on a full time basis to complete at least 12 semester hours to maintain a scholarship. The amendment passed.
Amendment 22 – The amendment was moved by Mr. Eckhardt and seconded. The amendment would allow the institution rather than the department to allow exceptions to the grade point average maintenance requirement. Representatives of the University and Northwest Community College spoke in favor of allowing the institution to determine whether the exception should be granted. The amendment failed. Representative Wasserburger moved that the Cochairmen work with the State Superintendent and with the LSO on drafting a proposal to amend the bill to allow the Department to delegate control over the exception language to the institutions. That motion passed.
Amendment 7 – Mr. Eckhardt moved and explained the amendment, which would allow students to attend private schools in Wyoming under the conditions specified and receive a scholarship. The motion was seconded. The amendment failed.
Amendment 2 – Cochairman Boggs explained the amendment would allow a student using a career scholarship to achieve a certificate to receive an additional four semester scholarship to seek a degree. Cochairman Harshman moved the amendment, the motion was seconded and passed.
Amendment 25 – Cochairman Boggs explained the amendment was intended to clarify the Committee's intent regarding the amount of need based scholarship for those not receiving the need based/Honor scholarship. Senator Scott moved to instead insert $1,500 per year on page 20-line 13 of the bill to clarify the issue. That amendment was seconded and passed.
Amendment 26 – Mr. Miller explained the amendment was to clarify that unmet financial need will be determined as of a date certain by each institution. He asked that the language "during the first thirty (30) days" be removed. Senator Scott moved the amendment without the offending language. The motion was seconded and passed. Mr. Monteith noted that the bill was somewhat ambiguous as to whether the determination must be made each year. He suggested additional language be added on page 5, in the definition of unmet need, to clarify and staff suggested relating that clarification to the language passed in amendment 26. The Committee agreed that the clarification should be part of the amendment.
Amendment 9 – LSO staff explained the first part of the amendment was to clarify the mechanisms of payments under the program between the various state entities involved. The second part of the amendment dealt with the transfer of funds from the endowment account to the expenditure account. Senator Scott moved division 1, through line 33 of the amendment. Passed. Senator Scott moved division 2, the remainder of the amendment. That part also passed.
Amendment 17 – Representative Wasserburger moved the amendment and explained that it would delete the requirement that school districts provide a nine week course on post-secondary education. Mr. Monteith seconded and spoke in support of the amendment. Mr. Hansen spoke in opposition to the amendment and provided appendix 6, a summary of a study showing the impact that learning in middle school about post-secondary opportunities can have. Representative Wasserburger withdrew the amendment. A substitute amendment was developed and moved by Representative Wasserburger. That amendment would require a one week unit in eighth grade, rather than a nine week class in seventh. The unit would be developed by the department in consultation with the districts and be made available to the districts. The amendment was seconded and passed.
Amendment 3 was withdrawn.
Amendment 16 was explained by Mr. Monteith. Cochairman Boggs explained the alternative amendment 20. Mr. Kinnison moved alternative 20b and the motion was seconded. Senator Scott moved to substitute amendment 16 for 20b. There was no second. Senator Scott spoke in opposition to amendment 20b. Mr. Kinnison moved to table the amendment. The motion to table passed.
Amendment 5 expanded certain reporting requirements. Senator Scott moved the amendment with changes to delete the report on certificates and the one year reference. The Committee first discussed the amendment to the amendment. Mr. Eckhardt moved to reinsert the language as drafted. That motion passed. The amendment as written passed.
Amendment 6 was explained by Cochairman Boggs. It would change the reporting requirement for shifting of scholarship funds. The amendment was moved by Cochairman Harshman, seconded by Mr. Kinnison and passed.
Amendment 14 was explained by staff. It created a reserve account to be used in years of lower than expected earnings. Senator Scott moved the amendment and Representative Wasserburger seconded. Senator Scott moved to amend by inserting a hard dollar amount of the greater of $12 million or 3.75% of the five year average of the endowment account. The amendment to the amendment passed, as did the main amendment.
Amendment 21 was moved by Mr. Eckhardt, seconded by Mr. Kinnison. The amendment would change the start of the program to the fall of 2006. It would also delete language regarding contingent reductions in scholarships and a delayed start of the program based upon reduced funding. Mr. Kinnison suggested a letter to the Governor stressing the importance of getting the program initial requirements and paperwork ready before the bill is passed so that the program can effectively be implemented in time for the fall of 2006 if that is how the Committee amends the bill. Senator Scott presented a draft letter. (Appendix 7) Cochairman Harshman agreed the letter should be written. Mr. McBride moved to table the amendment. Mr. Megeath seconded the motion. The Committee did not vote to table the amendment, but delayed consideration until after lunch and recessed for lunch at 11:45 a.m. Mary Kay Hill was designated by the State Superintendent as his representative to the Committee after noon, since he could not attend the remainder of the meeting. The Committee passed the amendment after lunch.
Amendment 18 – Representative Wasserburger explained and moved the amendment. Cochairman Boggs seconded. The amendment would change the start up funding from a general fund appropriation to a $30 million appropriation from the state common school permanent fund reserve account. The appropriation would only be used if the Hathaway expenditure account is insufficient to fund the scholarships. Senator Scott suggested fully funding the endowment and then funding the program for one year with the reserve account. He moved to substitute $17 million for the $30 million. That amendment passed as did the main motion.
Senator Scott then moved on page 43 – line 2 to change the $200 million to $400 million and on page 43 - line 14 to increase the amount to $105 million. The motion passed.
Staff briefly explained that bills carrying more than one appropriation are subject to the line item veto. Staff noted that there has been discussion regarding whether a bill carrying any appropriation is subject to a line item veto and some have suggested that a bill introduced with an appropriation is subject to a line item veto. Staff explained that latter position is not that of the LSO as the Constitution speaks of bills containing appropriations being subject to a line item veto and it was staff's view that the bill would need to contain more than one appropriation when presented to the Governor to be subject to a line item veto. Mr. Kinnison suggested that the Education Committee should strip the appropriation before introducing the bill in order to avoid any concern over the line item veto.
Amendment 15 was explained by Cochairman Boggs, moved by Mr. Monteith and seconded by Mr. Eckhardt. The amendment would require institutions making scholarship commitments for the 2006-2007 school year to pay those scholarships; for that year the Hathaway scholarships would be reduced accordingly. Thereafter the Hathaway scholarships could supplant the institutional scholarship. The student would always receive the greater of the two, but would not be entitled to both. The amendment passed.
Amendment 23 – Mr. Miller explained the amendment. He stated that it was being presented in order for the Committee to have before it the policy choice of what it wished to do with existing statutory scholarships. The amendment would reduce the County Commissioner scholarship and the scholarship for students planning teaching careers from full tuition to $500 per semester. Mr. Megeath moved the amendment, the motion was seconded. The amendment passed.
Amendment 10 was explained by Cochairman Boggs. It was moved by Representative Wasserburger, who also moved to amend by inserting after "and" on line 12 of the amendment "the state treasurer shall". The amendment to the amendment passed. Representative Wasserburger moved the amendment as amended. The motion was seconded and passed.
The Committee returned to tabled amendment 20. It began the discussion with amendment 16. Mr. Kinnison moved that amendment 20 do not pass. The motion passed and the amendment failed. Senator Scott moved amendment 16. Ms. Hill suggested the Department could work with the school districts and come back to the Education Committee with a proposal to fulfill the Committee's intent of reaching parents with information on the program. Mr. Hansen requested that the proposal contain a provision for parent acknowledgement. Mr. Monteith noted the difficulty in doing so. Amendment 16 failed.
Senator Scott moved to insert on page 28 - after line 21: "The department in consultation with the school districts shall develop a program," and then repeat the language from "of" on line 17 on. The motion passed.
Senator Scott and Cochairman Boggs asked that the University's and colleges' definition of residence be made available to the Education Committee.
The Committee discussed the issue of the cost of the program and reviewed different scenarios and costs involved. As drafted the bill would require approximately $19 million per year when fully implemented. The Committee discussed that a safe anticipation of earnings was $16 million per year when fully endowed. The Committee reviewed various scenarios to move the program under that amount. Representative Wasserburger moved to reduce the scholarship amounts to $800, $1,200 and $1,600 and raise the Opportunity Scholarship ACT to 18. The Career Scholarship amount was to be lowered to $800 with the ACT remaining at 17. Senator Scott moved to amend the amendment to increase the ACT for the Opportunity Scholarship to a 19 score. The amendment to the amendment passed. The main amendment passed. The revisions would bring the estimated program costs to approximately $15.5 million, without any increased enrollment. Senator Scott suggested that the Committee meet again next year after the program has started and make recommendations to increase the amounts as possible with additional earnings or lower than anticipated expenditures.
Senator Scott moved page 22 - line 11 – after "studies" to insert "and a study of a foreign language". The motion passed.
Representative Wasserburger moved on page 27 - line 13 to include "school districts". The motion passed.
Cochairman Boggs moved page 30 – line 21 and page 31 - lines 1 and 5, to insert "standard" between "GED" and "scores". Passed.
Senator Scott asked if the statement within the "unmet financial need" definition was consistent with the federal definition of "cost of attendance". Representatives from the institutions indicated it was. He then moved to define the term "cost of attendance" in a manner consistent with federal definition. The motion passed.
Senator Scott moved to delete section 7 from the bill and have it rewritten in a separate bill to be voted on. The motion passed.
Mr. Kinnison moved that the bill be recommended by the Committee. The motion passed 11-0 on a roll call vote.
Mr. Kinnison moved that a bill be drafted and approved by the Committee containing only the appropriations in section 7 as amended. Senator Scott moved that all appropriations other than subsection (a) be effective July 1, 2006. Subsection (a) should be effective immediately. The motion as amended passed 11-0 on a roll call vote.
Senator Scott moved the Committee propose to the Education Committee draft bill 56.W2. (Appendix 8) He noted the ballot statement might need to be adjusted depending on legislative action this coming session. Senator Scott stated that should the resolution pass future endowment funds should reference the Constitutional provision. The motion passed 11-0 on a roll call vote.
The Committee reviewed a proposed letter to the Governor concerning the need to immediately begin making efforts if the program is to be implemented in the fall of 2006. (Appendix 9) The Committee agreed that the letter should be sent as soon as possible with the LSO working with the cochairmen and sending the letter to the Governor as soon as possible.
The Committee members thanked those who worked the bill and developed the bill.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 4:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________________
Senator Tex Boggs Cochairman