The House Committee on Higher Education met this morning to pass several bills out of committee.

House Bill 2979, establishing performance agreements for institutions of higher learning, received two amendments by Representatives Sells and Wallace. The amendments would establish space in performance agreement committees for faculty and student representatives, as well as establish high employer demand programs of study and require the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to conduct an evaluation of the higher education performance agreements and make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature regarding their continuation and expansion.

House Bill 2930, providing for conditional scholarships and loan repayment programs for potential teachers in high-demand fields, was introduced as a proposed substitute bill. The substitute would bill would take effect in the 2013-2014 school year and increase the amount of the award for both the Future Teachers Conditional Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program and the Alternate Routes to Certification Conditional Scholarship Program to cover the full cost of attendance or $15,000 per academic year, whichever is less. In addition, the substitute bill stipulates that teachers in high-demand fields receive loan reimbursement per year of service, while students in non-high-demand fields receive one year of loan repayment for every two years of service.

Finally, a proposed substitute to House Bill 2854 would add career colleges to the list of institutions and agencies that must be
consulted when the HECB conducts periodic assessments of the HELP program, remove the reference that requires students to be enrolled in an “academic” field of study, clarify that students can be enrolled in an aid-eligible certificate program and still qualify for HELP, and clarify that students enrolled in both academic and technical associate degrees are eligible.

All of these bills received enough votes in the committee to be referred to fiscal or rules committees.