The City of Parkland Community Advisory Board voted unanimously to set eligibility rules for its scholarship program and to allocate local and private funds to create two $2,500 awards.

Jackie Weymayer, the city's senior director of strategy and intergovernmental affairs, told the board the city "has in their budget $4,000 total for scholarships" and outlined existing private commitments, including a $2,500 pledge from the Eaton family and a pledge from the Kennedy legal team. Board members moved to "grandfather" an existing Mesa Taylor family pledge at its prior $1,000 level rather than require new minimum donation amounts.

The board approved a motion to accept a $1,000 pledge from a board member's firm and combine it with the city's $4,000 to create a $5,000 pool, to be split into two $2,500 scholarships. In presenting that motion, a board member framed it this way: "[to] add to the $4,000 that the city funds for a total of $5,000 to be split into 2 $2,500 scholarships." The donation and reallocation passed unanimously.

In a separate unanimous vote, the board set minimum eligibility criteria for scholarships that will guide application materials distributed after the new year. The board specified that applicants must be graduating high-school seniors who reside in the City of Parkland, must have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 2.5, must have completed at least 50 hours of community service, and must have "demonstrated leadership, innovation, collaboration, or launched a community-service initiative." The board asked staff to draft a rubric for scoring those items and bring the rubric back to a future meeting.

Board members also discussed whether the scholarships should incorporate financial-need verification. Staff warned that financial documentation submitted as part of a government-managed application could become public record; members raised concerns about applicant privacy and the practical difficulty of verifying need across public, private and charter schools. The board did not adopt a financial-need requirement at this meeting, and directed staff to consult the city attorney and report back if a confidential verification process is feasible.

Board members asked staff to contact current private donors to confirm whether any donor wishes to keep a scholarship restricted to Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) recipients. The board voted to open newly solicited scholarships to all Parkland-resident graduating seniors, but agreed to honor any existing donor restrictions if the donor insists on maintaining them.

Staff said applications will be distributed after Jan. 1 and will be form-fillable PDFs; the board indicated preference for typed submissions and signaled that presentation (including following submission instructions) will factor into applicant evaluation. Staff will prepare the application packet, confirm donor conditions, and bring the rubric and schedule back to the board at a future meeting.

The board did not adopt a dollar figure for future city budgets beyond the existing $4,000 allocation and emphasized that additional funding would require a separate budget request.