Deadline 9 days off as HOPE plan stalls

By JAMES SALZER
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/24/04

The push to preserve the HOPE scholarship has stalled as a key deadline to keep legislation alive for the 2004 session nears.

Neither chamber's higher education committee has scheduled a vote on the plan, which must pass the House or Senate by the 33rd day of the session, nine legislative days away.

With key leaders focused on other issues, like redistricting and the state's troubled $16 billion budget, lawmakers are struggling to get top Democrats aboard on a proposal that would eliminate book and fee payments to HOPE scholars this fall, a move that would cost some college students more than $1,000 per year.

"We're to the point where we need to do something by next week if we're going to do anything," said Senate Higher Education Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton).

Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor delivered a letter Tuesday to Gov. Sonny Perdue asking him to raise the lottery revenue estimate by $125 million for next year and put the money in the budget to pay for books and fees. Perdue had cut the funding and lowered the estimate of how much money would be available to pay for the program.

"Despite the fact that the lottery is projected to break another record, your budget cuts the HOPE scholarship by 18 percent," Taylor wrote. "Not only does this stroke of a pen directly impact the students and their families, it forever alters the benefits of HOPE."

The governor's staff has said Taylor's plan to preserve the scholarship, which maintains book and fee payments, would bankrupt HOPE by 2006.

Changes in HOPE are being considered because state analysts project that the program, which is funded by the lottery, will begin eating into reserves in a few years. The number of HOPE scholars — those who attain and maintain at least a B average — and the cost of tuition, fees and books are expected to rise faster than lottery revenues.

However, some Democrats question the need to make major changes this year. Taylor notes that lottery sales have been up every year but one in the past decade. They rose 5 percent during the first six months of fiscal 2004, which ends June 30. Some House Democratic leaders also think analysts may have overstated the projected rise in HOPE costs in coming years.

Hamrick and House Higher Education Chairwoman Louise McBee (D-Athens) say they want to pass their bills in tandem to show the proposals have bipartisan backing. They headed a task force last fall that helped develop the legislation. They have been talking to Senate and House Democrats in hopes of securing their support.

"We're working hard as we can to find out what's doable," Hamrick said. "It needs to be something close to what we're proposing."

After studying the issue for the second half of 2003, McBee said, "It's going to look kind of funny if we don't do something."

Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta), a member of the House Higher Education Committee, said the numbers show something needs to be done to save HOPE now, but he's also worried the program has gotten caught up in partisan politics.

"We know it's an election year, and that nobody wants to take something away from people," Martin said. "I fear we are going to get to a place where we don't do anything."