BILL NUMBER:  S143

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the education law, in relation to including scores for
international baccalaureate examinations as eligible criteria for
receiving a New York state achievement and investment in merit
scholarship

 PURPOSE :

To ensure that high school students participating in International
Baccalaureate (IB) programs are not excluded from being considered for
a NYS Achievement and Investment Merit Scholarship (NY-AIMS).

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Paragraph b of subdivision 2 of section 669-g of the education law, as
added by section 1 of part Z of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015 is
amended.

 JUSTIFICATION :

The NYS Achievement and Investment Merit Scholarship was created last
year by the Legislature to offer higher education financial assistance
to students who have achieved academic excellence in high school and
              

plan to enroll in a public or private college in New York state
immediately after graduation. As currently written, the criteria
requires students to have graduated with two of the following: a grade
point average of 3.3 or higher; graduated with honors on a New York
State Regents diploma or received a score of 3 or higher on two or
more Advanced Placement (AP) exams; or graduated within the top 15% of
his or her high school class.

Unfortunately, the existing criteria does not contain a mechanism for
students participating in International Baccalaureate programs to
apply or be eligible for the scholarship. There are more than 50 high
schools across the state that offer the IB diploma and hundreds of
students that would otherwise be eligible. The bill language simply
adds comparable qualifying criteria for IB students who have also
achieved academic excellence.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

S.7650 of 2016 - Higher Education Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

Minimal

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately