CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 297(EDC) - Governor's Performance Scholarship Program

• Establishes the Governor's Performance Scholarship Program providing merit-based academic scholarships, merit-based career and technical school scholarships, and unmet financial need supplements to Alaska high school graduates attending qualified in-state postsecondary institutions.

• Creates three levels of merit-based academic scholarships based on grade point averages (A average, B average, C+ average) and college entrance examination scores, with funding amounts equal to University of Alaska tuition (2010-2011) and percentage thereof.

• Requires completion of four-year core academic curriculum (4 years each of mathematics, language arts, and science; 3 years of social studies) and establishes that school districts must determine and record scholarship eligibility in students' permanent records.

• Establishes the Governor's Performance Scholarship Fund managed by the Commissioner of Revenue to invest assets with a goal of preserving purchasing power and yielding at least 5% real rate of return, with 5% of average fund value available for appropriation annually.

• Effective September 1, 2010, with transition provisions allowing flexibility in core curriculum requirements for school years between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2013, and authorizing students who graduated after June 30, 2010, to apply beginning July 1, 2011.