BILL NUMBER:S4008

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
continuing early college high school programs in the state

Purpose of the Bill:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure the continuation of early
college high school (ECHSs) programs in the State, which provide
students often underrepresented in higher education with the
opportunity and access to college-level courses in high school, by
providing for the funding of such programs through tuition assistance
program (TAP) funds.

Summary of the Provisions of the Bill:

Section 1 of the bill would set forth the Legislature's intent in
enacting this bill. This section details the importance of Early
College High School (ECHS) programs in the State by recognizing that
an ECHS program increases a student's access to higher education by
introducing the student to college-level coursework in high school
where he or she has the combined support of high school and
college-level staff and resources. This section further identifies
that ECHSs offer students the ability to accelerate their completion
of a college degree by offering college-level credits at the high
school level.
              

Section 2 of the bill would add a new § 667-d to the Education Law to
authorize the President of the Higher Education Services Corporation
(HESC) to grant TAP awards, on an annual basis, to ECHSs. More
specifically, Education Law § 667-d, as added, would provide that
starting with the 2013-2014 academic year, an ECHS may apply to HESC
for a TAP award if has an approved ECHS program in the State. The
Commissioner of Education would be authorized to establish the
criteria for the approval of an ECHS program eligible for TAP funds
for purposes of such section.

The amount of TAP funds awarded to any ECHS program would be based on
the total number of students enrolled in the ECHS program who meet
certain eligibility requirements, as further set forth below,
multiplied by the excess cost to provide college-level coursework to
each student at such ECHS. The Commissioner of Education would
determine the excess cost per student based on a methodology
prescribed by the Commissioner. Based on the cost per student
expenditures of the Smart Scholars ECHS Program during the 2011-12
school year, the cost beyond traditional high school expenses to
provide an ECHS program is estimated to be approximately $645 per
student.  In determining the total student enrollment for purposes of
calculating the annual TAP award granted to an ECHS, a student would
need to meet the following conditions in order to be counted as part
of the ECHS's student enrollment. Foremost, a student may only be
counted for such enrollment purposes if he or she is actually enrolled
in an ECHS program. Therefore, a high school that separately offers an
ECHS program may only count the students actually enrolled in the ECHS
program within the school, and all other high school students in the
school would not be counted.


The student would also need to: (1) be a resident of the district in
which the school is located, (2) be registered to attend the 11`x' or
12th grade in the ECHS program at the ECHS, (3) have been eligible to
receive free or reduced price lunch in one of the two preceding school
years, and (4) be matriculated in an approved program leading to the
granting of a postsecondary degree or diploma or have demonstrated the
ability to complete college-level coursework. The bases for these
requirements are that students at these high grade levels have had the
opportunity to receive adequate preparation and demonstrate their
readiness for college level work. Moreover, it is in the 11th and 12th
grades that the majority of college level courses are taken by
students at the ECHS. Participation in the free and reduced price
lunch program is a standard method for determining students' economic
need at the secondary level. Since TAP aims to serve students of low
to moderate income, a requirement that a student receive free or
reduced price lunch helps ensure that a similar target population is
being served.

Under Education Law § 667-d, the Commissioner of Education would be
authorized to determine the standards a student must meet to
demonstrate that he or she is college ready. These criteria would
include, but need not be limited to: (1) the student has successfully
completed a specific number of hours of college-level instruction at
an approved partnering college, (2) the student has obtained test
scores in the 80th percentile or higher on all Regents examinations
administered to such student in the 9th and 10th grades, and (3) the
student has demonstrated the ability to complete college-level
coursework through his or her performance in high school level math,
English and science classes. The Commissioner of Education would be
authorized to establish the specific number of hours of college-level
instruction the student would have needed to complete at a partnering
college in order to demonstrate college readiness. These requirements
would be prescribed in the Commissioner's regulations.

Education Law § 667-d, as added, would also ensure that a student
would not be penalized for being counted towards an ECHS's student
enrollment for TAP purposes by expressly providing that the amount and
duration of a student's TAP award during higher education would not be
limited by such student being counted for such enrollment purposes.
Additionally, the bill would clarify that an ECHS would not otherwise
be subject to the requirements for payment of TAP pursuant to Article
14 of the Education Law.

Section 3 is the effective date.

Statement in Support of the Bill:

The Board of Regents supports implementation of innovative programs to
increase student attainment of postsecondary degrees, especially among
underrepresented students. One innovative strategy that is proving
effective is early college high schools. An early college high school
(ECHS) is a public school that provides disadvantaged students with
the opportunity and structured preparation to accelerate the
completion of their high school studies while earning up to 60
transferable college credits, tuition-free. This is particularly
important given that many of these ECHS programs serve high needs
school districts.


The mission of ECHSs is consistent with that of the New York State
Tuition Assistance Program (TAP): to increase underrepresented
students' access to post secondary education and to reduce these
students' costs for obtaining such education. The academic and social
support that ECHSs provide their students helps to ensure these
students successfully complete college course work after high school,
thereby making the investment of TAP funds in ECHS programs a sound
strategy. According to the national Early College High School
Initiative (ECHSI), these schools are "based on the principle that
academic rigor, combined with the opportunity to save time and money,
is a powerful motivator for students to work hard and meet serious
intellectual challenges."1

To provide college-level instruction at the high school level, ECHSs
require additional funding, beyond traditional State Aid, to support
the additional costs associated with these services (e.g. college
tuition and college textbooks, college level laboratory equipment, and
additional academic and social support structures). To date, ECHSs
have had to primarily rely on temporary funding sources such as grants
to support these additional costs. (e.g. Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation). The unreliability of these funding sources and possible
depletion of funds, subjects these schools to possible closure and
jeopardizes the student's education at both the high school and
college level. Making ECHSs statutorily eligible to receive TAP funds
to pay these extra costs would help ensure the long-term
sustainability of this valuable strategy for increasing high school
graduation and postsecondary degree completion rates among
underrepresented students.

There are currently 34 ECHSs in New York State, with the earliest of
such high schools opening in 2002 through the Early College Initiative
(ECI) at CUNY. The CUNY program has grown to include 13 ECHSs with the
most recent opening in September 2011. In 2009, the Board of Regents
established the Smart Scholars Early College High School Program,
which has an initial cohort of 11 ECHSs (Cohort 1).  All of these ECHS
programs received significant initial funding from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation. In 2011, to satisfy a required match to the initial
$6 million that the Smart Scholars program was awarded by the Gates
Foundation, NYSED awarded start-up grants to 12 new (Cohort 2) Smart
Scholars ECHS programs and expansion grants to 4 Cohort 1 projects
with State funding. There are now 23 Smart Scholars ECHS projects
across New York State, including two of the CUNY ECI schools. All of
the Smart Scholars grants are four-year awards, and the funded schools
will need new funding sources to continue to meet the excess costs of
their ECHS programs once their grant programs end. Other New York ECHS
are already facing similar challenges with finding long-term funding
to sustain their programs. Therefore, a structured funding mechanism
is needed to sustain these valuable programs throughout the State.

Furthermore, tracked student performance demonstrates the value of
ECHSs to students and reinforces the need and appropriate use of TAP
funds to sustain these programs. The national ECHSI has developed a
Student Information System (SIS) to track student progress in
approximately 200 of its ECHSs currently operating in 24 states and
the District of Columbia. Outcomes for students in the ECHSI support
the effectiveness of early college high schools as a strategy for
closing the achievement gap. Nationwide, 70% of ECHSI students are


students of color and 59% are eligible for the free or reduced lunch
program.

These figures are higher for ECHS students in New York State. For
example, over 90% of the students in CUNY's Early College Initiative
are students of color, and 66% participate in the free and reduced
price lunch program. In 2010, over 5,400 students graduated from the
68 Early College High School Initiative schools that had been open for
four or more years, and ECHS graduation rates outpaced district school
graduation rates by 8% (84% to 76%, respectively). In addition, 77% of
graduates went on to some form of postsecondary education, with 52%
enrolled in a 4-year college, 23% enrolled in a 2-year college, and 2%
enrolled in technical programs. Thus, ECHSs not only prepare students
for college but they provide the incentive and motivation for students
to complete their college degrees at an accelerated level.

Budgetary Implications of the Bill:

This bill is anticipated to result in overall cost-sayings to TAP as
well as to the State given that an ECHS program accelerates a
student's completion of his or her college degree at the high school
level so that the student should not require as much TAP funding while
in college. Furthermore, while a student may likely receive a maximum
TAP award of $5,000 at the college level, an ECHS may only require
$645 per student to provide college instruction at the high school
level. Any savings in providing college instruction at the high school
level rather than the college level would further result in costs
savings on the State.

It is estimated that based on an expected excess cost of $645 per
student, the bill will cost approximately $1,540,905 in TAP funds
during the first year of the bill's implementation.

The following table outlines these costs:

School Year      Projected
          Projected Percent   Projected
                ECHS 11th and 12th     (rounded) and      ECHS-TAP
                    Graders
 ECHS            Award
                                       Students Eligible
                                       for TAP
2012 - 2013         3,513              68%% = 2,389       $1,540,905

For further clarification, this cost was determined by multiplying the
number  of  ECHS  students  projected to be eligible to be counted for
ECHS TAP purposes in the  2013-2014  school  year,  by  the  estimated
average excess cost per student ($645). The estimate for the number of
eligible students is based on projections of the percentage of juniors
and  seniors  in New York ECHS that would be eligible for the free and
reduced price lunch program in such year.

Although these schools may be eligible to apply for  such  funding  in
the  2013-2014  school  year,  no  one  school  is  required to apply.
Rather, application for TAP funding should be made  on  an  as  needed
basis  since  these  funds  should  be  used to help replace the grant


funding when such funding expires. Therefore, the projections for this
year could be considerably lower.

Prior Legislative History:

In  2011,  the  bill was introduced in the Senate as S.5647. It passed
the Senate and was not introduced in the Assembly. In 2012,  the  bill
was  reintroduced  in the Senate and was introduced in the Assembly as
A.9312. The bill passed the Senate and was and referred to the  Higher
Education Committee.

Effective Date:

This act would take effect July 1, 2013.