Committee unanimously advances SB83 to make homeschooled students eligible for KEYS scholarship parity

The Senate Education Committee unanimously adopted a committee substitute and advanced Senate Bill 83, a recurring measure that would allow students attending noncertified schools, including homeschool students, to qualify for KEYS scholarships by converting ACT scores into a GPA equivalency.

Senator Wilson, presenting the substitute, said the measure "allows our homeschool students to be on par with our public school students in the KEYS award." The substitute lays out a formula to translate ACT performance into an equivalent GPA and then use that equivalency to calculate both the yearly KEYS award and the supplemental award. In committee discussion the sponsor gave an example from the substitute: an ACT-to-GPA translation yielding an approximately 3.7 equivalency would correspond to a $425 yearly award (multiplied across four years to $1,700), plus any supplemental funds described on page 10 of the substitute.

Committee members noted this is a recurring bill that the committee has passed in prior years. After a brief presentation there were no questions; Senator Williams moved the bill and Senator Rawlings seconded. The committee recorded a unanimous favorable action on SB83.

The substitute was described by the sponsor as "very straightforward" and intended to maintain parity in scholarship eligibility between students in noncertified schools and their peers in public schools. The committee did not debate fiscal impact details in the session; sponsors and staff did not provide an implementation timeline during the hearing.