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No Will to Tame TOPS

LOFSA

“The real issue here is the fact that TOPS is in peril,” remarked Representative Julie Stokes (R-Kenner) in the House Education Committee. 

For next year's budget, which begins on July 1, the state only has $60 million of the $300 million needed to fully fund the popular scholarship program.

Six bills to try and make TOPS more compatible with the state’s fiscal reality were heard in the committee Wednesday. Changes proposed included raising GPA requirements, limiting award amounts, and requiring repayment if students drop out.

In every instance, Dr. James Caillier of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation spoke in opposition. “It’s nice to look at ways of saving a few dollars," he says, "but the academic impact ought to be our number one concern.”

One bill by Representative Stokes proposed making students repay their TOPS scholarship if they leave school before graduating. “In order to keep responsibility high," she says, "I believe it’s the right thing to give them that additional incentive to be serious about education.”

Representative Chris Broadwater's (R-Hammond) bill tried to create a sliding scale for the scholarships. “Freshmen would get eighty percent of tuition paid, sophomores would receive ninety percent, and then juniors and seniors would get the full one hundred percent.”

Speaker Pro-Tem Walt Leger brought up a concern that, with this change, the students the program was originally created for "are those that are first removed from access.”

Representative Pat Smith (D-Baton Rouge) said the original intent of TOPS must be kept in mind. “It was means based originally," she says, "and then [Governor] Foster opened it up and let everyone get in it.”

Having voluntarily deferred her bill, Stokes responded, "I hear people in this body complain all the time about how TOPS should have higher standards, TOPS should be means tested, all these things. But there’s never a will to do anything about it.”

In the end, only one bill moved out of committee. HB438by Representative Barry Ivey (R-Baton Rouge) would create a new TOPS-Tech transfer award. And it only passed by one vote.