SECOND REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES JETTON (Sponsor), JACKSON, BAKER, PEARCE, CROWELL,
SUTHERLAND, BEHNEN, PAGE, LAGER, COOPER (120) AND SAGER (Co-sponsors).Read 1st time January 29, 2004, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 160.276, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to higher education scholarships.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 160.276, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 160.276, to read as follows:
160.276. 1. Within the limits of amounts appropriated therefor, the department of elementary and secondary education shall make one-year, [nonrenewable] renewable scholarships in an amount of [one] three thousand dollars available to:
(1) High school graduates [and];
(2) Junior and community college students [who are residents of Missouri,]; and
(3) Freshman and sophomores at a four-year college or university;
who enter and make a commitment to pursue a teacher education program approved by the department of elementary and secondary education and offered by a four-year college or university located in Missouri, and who have:
[(1)] (a) Achieved scores on an accepted standardized test of academic ability, including, but not limited to, the SAT, ACT, SCAT, which place them at or above the [eighty-fifth] seventy-fifth percentile; or
[(2)] (b) A high school rank at or above the [eighty-fifth] seventy-fifth percentile; or
(c) In the case of any scholarship applicant who has attended a community college, college, or university for more than two semesters before applying for such scholarship, a grade-point average of at least 3.0 on a scale of 4.0; and
(4) Substitute teachers or paraprofessionals who have served for more than one calendar year in an accredited district who are recommended by that district to participate in the scholarship program.
2. [Any college or university located in Missouri which offers a teacher education program approved by the department of elementary and secondary education, and wishes to have the scholarships provided pursuant to this section made available to eligible applicants for admittance to such college or university, must provide matching funds to match, dollar for dollar, the funds made available by the state under this section for students attending the college or university. Such matching funds shall not be taken from money made available to the college or university from state funds.] The total scholarship available to any one student [from state and from college and university sources under such match program shall be two thousand dollars] shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars. Students shall maintain a 3.0 average on a 4.0 scale to renew the scholarship.