House panel advances bill to let high school juniors and seniors access Tennessee Promise funds sooner

The House Higher Education Subcommittee voted unanimously on March 11 to advance House Bill 1043, as amended, to the full education committee. The bill, presented by Chairman Martin, would allow high school juniors and seniors to access last-dollar Tennessee Promise scholarship funds sooner to cover unpaid tuition associated with dual-enrollment classes, a change lawmakers said would reduce barriers to college-level coursework while still preserving existing dual-enrollment funding.

"This bill comes to me from 2 students that attend a public high school in my district, the Sail Creek High School," Chairman Martin said, describing that students Carly and Laurel raised the issue for him. Martin told the committee the proposal aims to make Promise dollars available during the students' high-school years rather than waiting until after matriculation.

Chairman Baum asked how the new ordering of funds would work in practice and whether dual-enrollment lottery dollars would be applied before Promise funds. Martin said the dual-enrollment dollars would be applied first and that the change would allow Promise funds to be used within a 60-hour pathway instead of being limited to five semesters after high-school matriculation. The committee adopted an amendment (identified in the hearing transcript as amendment 014242) and approved moving the bill forward by voice vote.

Madam Clerk recorded the final tally as five ayes and zero nays. With the committee's vote, House Bill 1043 will proceed to the full education committee for further consideration.