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GA HB970

Bill

Status

Passed

5/2/2024

Primary Sponsor

Robert Dickey

Click for details

Origin

House of Representatives

2023-2024 Regular Session

AI Summary

  • Expands eligibility for Georgia's REACH Scholarship to include victims of human trafficking, in addition to students who qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program
  • Adds a new step in the REACH scholar selection process requiring participating school systems to identify eligible students who are victims of human trafficking
  • Removes the fixed caps on REACH scholar designations (previously 12 scholars for systems with 5+ high schools and 7 for smaller systems) and instead ties the number of scholars to available appropriations
  • Simplifies the funding structure by setting a flat $1,000 per scholar contribution from participating school systems and $9,000 per scholar from the REACH authority, replacing the previous tiered system based on Department of Community Affairs county tier designations and population thresholds
  • Students continue to be selected in the spring of 7th grade or fall of 8th grade through a rigorous application process including nominations, recommendations, and interviews

Legislative Description

Realizing Educational Achievement Can Happen (REACH) Scholarship; victims of human trafficking are eligible; provide

Last Action

Effective Date 2024-07-01

5/2/2024

Committee Referrals

Higher Education2/9/2024
Higher Education1/23/2024

Full Bill Text

No bill text available