Florida Senate - 2014 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. PCS (264136) for SB 1148 Ì894688kÎ894688 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/28/2014 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— following: 1 Senate Substitute for Amendment (411884) (with title 2 amendment) 3 4 Between lines 524 and 525 5 insert: 6 Section 9. Subsection (1) and paragraph (a) of subsection 7 (2) of section 1009.55, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 8 1009.55 Rosewood Family Scholarship Program.— 9 (1) There is created a Rosewood Family Scholarship Program 10 for the direct descendants of the Rosewood families, not to 11 exceed 5025scholarships per year. 12 (2) The Rosewood Family Scholarship Program shall be 13 administered by the Department of Education. The State Board of 14 Education shall adopt rules for administering this program which 15 shall at a minimum provide for the following: 16 (a) The annual award to a student shall be up to $6,100 17$4,000but should not exceed an amount in excess of tuition and 18 registration fees. 19 Section 10. Section 1009.893, Florida Statutes, is created 20 to read: 21 1009.893 Florida National Merit Scholar Incentive Program.— 22 (1) As used in this section, the term: 23 (a) “Department” means the Department of Education. 24 (b) “Incentive program” means the Florida National Merit 25 Scholar Incentive Program. 26 (2) The Florida National Merit Scholar Incentive Program is 27 created to reward any Florida high school graduate who receives 28 recognition as a National Merit Scholar or National Achievement 29 Scholar and who initially enrolls in the 2014-2015 academic 30 year, or later, in a degree program, certificate program, or 31 applied technology program at an eligible Florida public or 32 independent postsecondary educational institution. 33 (3) The department shall administer the incentive program 34 according to rules and procedures established by the State Board 35 of Education. The department shall advertise the availability of 36 the incentive program and notify students, teachers, parents, 37 certified school counselors, and principals or other relevant 38 school administrators of the criteria and application 39 procedures. 40 (4) In order to be eligible for an award under the 41 incentive program, a student must: 42 (a) Be a state resident as defined in s. 1009.40 and rules 43 of the State Board of Education. 44 (b) Earn a standard Florida high school diploma or its 45 equivalent pursuant to s. 1003.428, s. 1003.4281, s. 1003.4282, 46 or s. 1003.435 unless: 47 1. The student completes a home education program according 48 to s. 1002.41; or 49 2. The student earns a high school diploma from a non 50 Florida school while living with a parent or guardian who is on 51 military or public service assignment away from this state. 52 (c) Be accepted by and enroll in a Florida public or 53 independent postsecondary educational institution that meets the 54 eligibility requirements specified in s. 1009.533. 55 (d) Be enrolled for at least 6 semester credit hours or the 56 equivalent in quarter hours or clock hours. 57 (5)(a) An eligible student who is a National Merit Scholar 58 or National Achievement Scholar and who attends a public 59 postsecondary educational institution must receive an incentive 60 award equal to the institutional cost of attendance minus the 61 sum of the student’s Florida Bright Futures Scholarship and 62 National Merit Scholarship or National Achievement Scholarship. 63 (b) An eligible student who is a National Merit Scholar or 64 National Achievement Scholar and who attends an independent 65 postsecondary educational institution must receive an incentive 66 award equal to the highest cost of attendance at a Florida 67 public university, as reported by the Board of Governors of the 68 State University System, minus the sum of the student’s Florida 69 Bright Futures Scholarship and National Merit Scholarship or 70 National Achievement Scholarship. 71 (6)(a) To be eligible for a renewal award, a student must 72 meet the renewal requirements for the Florida Bright Futures 73 Scholarship Program set forth in s. 1009.532(1)(a) and for the 74 Florida Academic Scholars award set forth in s. 1009.534(3). 75 (b) A student may receive the incentive award for a maximum 76 of 100 percent of the number of credit hours required to 77 complete an associate degree program or a baccalaureate degree 78 program or receive an award for a maximum of 100 percent of the 79 credit hours or clock hours required to complete up to 90 credit 80 hours of a program that terminates in a career certificate. 81 (7) The department shall annually issue awards from the 82 incentive program. Before the registration period each semester, 83 the department shall transmit payment for each award to the 84 president or director of the postsecondary educational 85 institution, or his or her representative, except that the 86 department may withhold payment if the receiving institution 87 fails to report or to make refunds to the department as required 88 in this section. 89 (a) Each institution shall certify to the department the 90 eligibility status of each student to receive a disbursement 91 within 30 days before the end of its regular registration 92 period, inclusive of a drop and add period. An institution is 93 not required to reevaluate the student eligibility after the end 94 of the drop and add period. 95 (b) An institution that receives funds from the incentive 96 program must certify to the department the amount of funds 97 disbursed to each student and remit to the department any 98 undisbursed advances within 60 days after the end of regular 99 registration. 100 (c) If funds appropriated are not adequate to provide the 101 maximum allowable award to each eligible student, awards must be 102 prorated using the same percentage reduction. 103 (8) Funds from any award within the incentive program may 104 not be used to pay for remedial coursework or developmental 105 education. 106 (9) A student may use an award for a summer term if funds 107 are available and appropriated by the Legislature. 108 (10) Funds appropriated by the Legislature for the 109 incentive program awards may be deposited into the State Student 110 Financial Assistance Trust Fund. Notwithstanding s. 216.301 and 111 pursuant to s. 216.351, any balance in the trust fund at the end 112 of any fiscal year which has been allocated to the incentive 113 program must remain in the incentive program and shall be 114 available for carrying out the purposes of this section. The 115 department shall allocate funds to the appropriate institutions 116 and collect and maintain data regarding the incentive program 117 within the student financial assistance database as specified in 118 s. 1009.94. 119 (11) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules 120 necessary to administer this section. 121 (12) Subsection (4) of s. 1009.40 does not apply to awards 122 issued under this section. 123 124 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 125 And the title is amended as follows: 126 Delete line 72 127 and insert: 128 at state universities; amending s. 1009.55, F.S.; 129 increasing the annual maximum number of scholarships 130 that may be awarded in the Rosewood Family Scholarship 131 Program; increasing the annual maximum award amount 132 per student; creating s. 1009.893, F.S.; creating the 133 Florida National Merit Scholar Incentive Program; 134 defining terms; providing the purpose of the incentive 135 program; requiring the Department of Education to 136 administer the incentive program, advertise the 137 availability of the incentive program, and notify 138 students, teachers, parents, and school administrators 139 about the incentive program’s criteria and application 140 procedures; providing eligibility requirements for the 141 incentive program; requiring certain students who are 142 National Merit Scholars or National Achievement 143 Scholars to receive certain incentive awards; 144 providing eligibility requirements to renew an award; 145 authorizing a student to receive an incentive award 146 for certain maximum percentage amounts of the number 147 of credit hours required to complete an associate 148 degree, a baccalaureate degree, or a career 149 certificate; requiring the department to issue awards 150 from the incentive program and to transmit payment for 151 each award; authorizing the department to withhold 152 payment under certain circumstances; requiring 153 institutions to certify to the department the 154 eligibility status of each student to receive a 155 disbursement of an award during a specified time; 156 requiring the institution to certify to the department 157 the disbursement amounts to each student and remit to 158 the department undisbursed funds; providing for 159 proration of funds; prohibiting use of funds for 160 remedial coursework or developmental education; 161 authorizing a student to use funds during the summer 162 term under certain circumstances; authorizing 163 incentive program funds appropriated by the 164 Legislature to be deposited in the State Student 165 Financial Assistance Trust Fund; providing for use of 166 any remaining balance of appropriated funds in the 167 trust fund; requiring the department to allocate funds 168 to appropriate institutions and collect and maintain 169 certain data regarding the incentive program; 170 requiring the State Board of Education to adopt rules; 171 providing for retroactive