By John Haughey
The Center Square
January 24, 2020
An estimated 282,000 students are enrolled in Florida’s 28 community colleges seeking associate’s degrees or career certificates.
More than 21,000 other students are matriculating through vocational programs offered in career/technical centers operated by school districts.
But while the state orchestrates millions of dollars annually in financial assistance for students seeking academic degrees in universities and colleges, it offers relatively little for vocational students, particularly those from low-income families.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed Florida will be “the nation’s leader in workforce education by 2030” and the state’s Republican-led Legislature has responded by filing numerous 2020 bills directing resources into vocational education.
Even Democrat-filed workforce education legislation is being heard in committees, evidenced by Wednesday’s advance of companion Senate-House bills seeking to create a scholarship to assist students enrolled in community colleges and career/technical training centers.
Senate Bill 132, sponsored by Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and House Bill 55, filed by Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, both passed unanimously in debut committee reviews leavened with bipartisan applause.
The bills create the Sunshine Scholarship Program, modeled on programs in New York and Tennessee’s Promise Program,” Jones told the House Higher Education & Career Readiness Subcommittee.
HB 55 is “near and dear to my heart,” Jones continued. “We have very limited scholarships for technical schools, trade schools, and the numbers of students who attend two-year colleges,” he said. The program would “open the doors of opportunity and break the cycle of poverty” for students not geared for post-secondary academic studies.
A Sunshine Scholarship would fund 100 percent of tuition and fees for a student pursuing an associate degree or career certificate from an eligible institution. Eligibility requirements include:
- Be a state resident.
- Have an annual household income equal to or less than $50,000.
- Maintain continuous enrollment as a full-time student while receiving the scholarship.
- Maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale.
Jones said the scholarship comes with a “catch” and a “caveat.”
“The catch is for individuals who receive the Sunshine Scholarship, is it is considered the last dollar” after all other financial assistance is exhausted, he said. “It is for whatever they cannot cover” through other programs.
The “caveat,” Jones added, “is retention in the state of Florida, For however long you use the Sunshine Scholarship, you need to work in the state.”
What happens if a recipient leaves the state? Doesn’t get a job? asked Rep. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland.
“If they leave the state, they will have to pay the state back,” Jones said. When “they find employment, that is when they pay back. They will not be penalized” for not immediately finding a job after graduating.
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said the bill “very narrowly tailors” the scholarship to under-served students.
“This helps align our state-based financial aid scholarships with the policy of the Legislature over the last few years,” he said. “It is a tremendous bill – a great, great bill.”
“I love voting for bills that have a direct impact on people’s day-to-day lives,” Rep. Amber Mariano, R-Hudson, said.
How much money the state will set aside to fund the scholarship remains undetermined.
Burton said the scholarship can be used in tandem with other workforce initiatives geared to draw high-tech, high-wage employers to Florida and can be “closely linked to individuals and businesses in areas that are hiring. (Recipients) are going to be the job-seekers in our communities.”
HB 55 now moves onto the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee and Education Committee.
Branyon’s SB 132, approved by the Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee Wednesday, now goes before the Senate Education and Appropriations committees.