Statement to the Committee on Education (K-12)
Regarding H.B. 2238, the Early Graduation Scholarship Program
February 14, 2007
Sybil Francis, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Center for the Future of Arizona
541 East Van Buren
Suite B-5
Phoenix, Arizona 85004
Tel: 480-727-5052
Mr. Chairman, members of the House Education (K-12) Committee,
Thank you for allowing me to appear before you today to address the merits of H.B. 2238, the Early Graduation Scholarship Program introduced by Rep. Andrew Tobin, Vice Chairman, House Education (K-12) Committee.
My name is Sybil Francis. I am Executive Director of the Center for the Future of Arizona, a 501c(3) organization focusing on key issues facing our state and our future. My partner, Dr. Lattie Coor and I founded the organization nearly five years ago. As most of you know, Dr. Coor is the former president of Arizona State University. My own background is in public policy and I was based in Washington, D.C. most of my professional career prior to moving to Arizona 4 ½ years ago.
Let me briefly explain our Center’s engagement in K-12 issues because it is relevant to our comments on H.B. 2238. We have focused our efforts in three areas. First, we have sought to forge consensus among leaders in education, business, and the non-profit community around an ambitious and achievable goal for improving high school graduation rates for Arizona. Second, we are addressing the need for new strategies for meeting these goals. Finally, we have worked to clarify definitions of graduation rates and other terminology without which we can’t truly know where we stand and what progress we are making. I am happy to expand on any of these that are of interest to the committee. My principal purpose today is to comment on Rep. Tobin’s legislation to establish an early graduation scholarship program.
Rep. Tobin’s legislation addresses two important factors that will drive the success of students in high school:
First, many have commented on and recognized the need for changes to the high school senior year experience. Some students are ready to move to the next step in their education by the time they are seniors and this legislation provides an incentive for them to do so. A student who graduates at least one semester prior to the standard four years of high school would become eligible for a $1,000 scholarship towards the first year of approved post-secondary educational pursuits and eligible for $500 in scholarship aid for a second year if the student is successful in the first year of studies. This clearly provides a powerful incentive for students to succeed and in a timely manner since the only circumstances in which the scholarship is provided to the student is if the student graduates ahead of his or her class.
Second, the proposed legislation also provides financial incentives to the schools. That is because the school is entitled to keep the per pupil allocation of the student who has graduated early and enrolled in post-secondary educational pursuits, minus the scholarship amount awarded to the student. Even more appealing, is the possibility that these funds could be reinvested by the school to improve the prospects of success of the remaining students. The schools thus become financially vested in the successful outcomes of students, which is not currently the case. One might even imagine that this interest in student success could reach in the other direction, into the lower grades.
Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, we believe the proposal to establish an Early Graduation Scholarship Program is a sound one that has great merit. I make this statement based on some exploratory work that our Center, in collaboration with representatives of Greater Phoenix Leadership and the Arizona Association of School Business Officials, has done on the question of how best to create incentives to improve high school graduation. We find this to be a sound concept and a sound approach to addressing an important need and one that is “win-win” for students and for schools. We respectfully urge the committee to give the proposed bill its full consideration and support and offer any analytical support that might be of assistance to the committee in its further consideration of the proposal.
Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
[NEWS]