Throw enough at the wall, eventually something’s going to stick.
That was the attitude in the Louisiana House Education Committee today, when it heard testimony for six bills regarding the TOPS scholarship program.
The committee deferred each bill until favorably reporting House Bill 438 by Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Central, which would create a middle-tier TOPS scholarship program and change some TOPS requirements years down the road.
The state currently administers two basic TOPS scholarship programs—TOPS Opportunity, which provides scholarships to four-year universities; and TOPS Tech, which pays tuition to technical, community and non-baccalaureate colleges. TOPS Performance and Honors are just like the TOPS Opportunity Award except with additional incentives.
Ivey’s bill would create a third basic category, the TOPS Transfer, which would allow students to begin their education at a two-year school before moving on to a four-year degree.
TOPS Transfer would have slightly lower GPA requirements than TOPS Opportunity, but Ivey’s bill also would increase the GPA requirements for TOPS Opportunity.
Ivey said his bill was aimed at students who aren’t ready for the experience of a four-year college but do eventually want to graduate with an academic degree. While testifying for another of his bills heard today, Ivey said many students arrive at a four-year college unprepared for the change of lifestyle and rigor of the classes.
Though the bill eventually passed, there was some concern that the bill does not address the problems TOPS faces today. Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith, D-Baton Rouge, had this concern with several of the bills heard today. She said that while she may be open to Ivey’s bill in the future, the committee should be focusing on making TOPS sustainable in the short term.
The committee deferred five bills before it passed Ivey’s, including HB 437, another bill Ivey put forth. That bill would have increased GPA requirements for TOPS Opportunity recipients after their first year.
HB 581, by Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, elicited some controversy as it would have required TOPS recipients who fail to maintain the grade requirements to pay back some or all of their scholarship money.
James Caillier, executive director of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, said Stokes’ bill risked turning TOPS scholarships into yet another source of student debt, and that students who earn scholarships shouldn’t be punished by having to repay them.
“There is already a punishment  for the loss of scholarship—you lose it,” Caillier said.
Other TOPS bills deferred from the committee included HB 104 by Rep. Sherman Mack, R-Albany; HB 279 by Rep. Chris Broadwater, R-Hammond; and HB 390 by Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette.
—Gordon Brillon
Jeremy Alford and Gordon Brillon will publish a daily update throughout the legislative regular session on Daily Report PM. Alford reports on Louisiana politics at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter or on Facebook. He can be reached atJJA@LaPolitics.com.
