Joint Budget Committee. Current law creates the fourth-year
innovation pilot program (pilot program) in the department of higher education (department) to disburse state funding to postsecondary education and training programs on behalf of low-income students who graduate early from a participating high school.
The bill limits pilot program participation to local education
providers, groups of providers, and schools participating in the 2023-24 school year but it does not cap the number of students who may receive postsecondary education scholarships through the pilot program.
Current law requires the department to annually report to the
department of education, the governor's office of state planning and budgeting, the joint budget committee, and the education committees of the general assembly certain information about the pilot program. The bill adds a final evaluation component of the pilot program's data from each student cohort, the pilot program's outcomes and cost-effectiveness, and recommendations about any next steps beyond the pilot phase.
