AN ACT relating to proactive postsecondary admission.
What changed between versions
The definition of 'eligible high school student' (limited to final-year students at public or certified nonpublic schools meeting minimum academic qualifications and Kentucky residency) is removed entirely, along with the 'certified nonpublic school' definition. Eligibility is now determined through the data-sharing mechanism based on directory information opt-out status under 34 C.F.R. sec. 99.37.
A new subsection (4) requires each public school district to annually invite every student enrolled in a public high school to participate in the program, allow students to select a preferred communication method, and notify the Department of Education by July 1 each year of participating students and their communication preferences.
The personalized notification must now include: instructions for accessing state financial aid and scholarship or grant opportunities, information on cost of attending and workforce outcomes (with a link to KRS 164.0284 reporting), and notice of institutional aid opportunities. These were not in the original version.
A new subsection (5) requires the Department of Education to annually provide directory information (name, address, school district, grade level, phone, email) to each public postsecondary institution for students who have not opted out of directory information sharing, and additional data (GPA, test scores, Governor's Scholars status, communication method) for students who agreed to participate.
Notification responsibility shifts from the council sending letters to each public postsecondary education institution sending its own personalized prospective admissions notification to eligible students who meet that institution's minimum qualification.
The minimum academic qualification for prospective admission must now 'exclusively include' either a minimum GPA or a combination of minimum GPA and minimum score on a nationally recognized college readiness examination, making the criteria more prescriptive than the original.
The requirement for the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority to submit Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship award amounts is removed, and the provision including a student's KEE Scholarship amount in the notification letter is eliminated.
New subsections (8) and (9) require the council to collaborate with institutions to promote and evaluate the program and report annually to the Legislative Research Commission, and require the Department of Education to collaborate with school districts to maximize participation and submit annual reports on participation rates, invitation methods, and perceived barriers.
Section 2 is restructured to add a new subsection (1) requiring the Department of Education to submit compiled student data (including date of birth and last four SSN digits) to the Kentucky Center for Statistics, and explicitly prohibits the Center from including personally identifiable information in published cohort data.