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Minutes for SB544 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Establishing a Kansas academic excellence scholarship program to replace the Kansas ethnic minority scholarship program.
Minutes Content for Mon, Mar 18, 2024
Chair Baumgardner opened the hearing on SB544 by asking Tamera Lawrence, Senior Assistant Revisor, The Office of the Revisor or Statutes to give an overview of the bill.(Attachment 18)
Proponent written only testimony was submitted by Dr. Blake Flanders, President and CEO, Kansas Board of Regents (Attachment 19)
Opponent written only testimony was submitted by Nathan J. Madden, Impact Strategist - Policy, Health Forward Foundation (Attachment 20)
Neutral testimony:
Matt Lindsey, President, Kansas Independent College Association (KICA), is neutral on this bill. KICA and its colleges are strongly supportive of increasing student aid and statewide efforts to address college affordability, especially when those efforts are inclusive of the rights of each student to choose public or private colleges in Kansas. But KICA and its institutions are concerned about aspects of the bill as introduced. The existing Ethnic Minority Scholarship may not need to be replaced and KICA has concerns about creating a new scholarship tat replicates so much of the programs that already exists in Kansas Law. Another concern s the "current Christmas tree" list of KBOR administered financial aid programs has many scholarships that are often oversubscribed and could use additional funding. Lastly, the scholarship envisioned by SB544 does not directly serve those students previously helped by the Ethnic Minority Scholarship. If the wish is to replace the Ethnic Minority Scholarship, it would be best to craft a scholarship that targets students from the highest poverty districts in the state or from districts with high proportions of students who are traditionally unrepresented in higher education. (Attachment 21)
The Chair closed the hearing.
