Democratic leaders vowed Sunday to fight any effort to tie the HOPE scholarship to how students perform on the SAT, a proposal Gov. Sonny Perdue wants state leaders to consider.

Democrats argued it would keep students who earn good grades but don't do well on standardized tests from getting HOPE scholarships, and they raised concerns that African-American students would be most severely impacted.

"There are any number of 'A' students who don't test well," said Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor. "This is the wrong approach to the challenges we face.

"I am certainly going to ask the General Assembly to oppose tying the HOPE scholarship to . . . the SAT."

Students, parents and members of the state commission studying ways to preserve the popular scholarship had mixed reactions to the idea of making high schoolers get a minimum SAT score --- in addition to a 'B' average --- to earn a HOPE.

Grady High School juniors Alina Maleski and Allison Ozell, both 16, don't like the proposal.

"Some people are horrible at testing," said Alina. "That could really prevent a lot of people from going to good schools, or schools at all."

Allison said, "Sometimes testing doesn't accurately show how intelligent you are."

But Lynn Smith of Tyrone, a parent of a Woodward Academy fourth-grader, likes the idea. An honors class at one high school might be tougher than the same class at another school. But with the SAT, she said. "Everybody takes the same test."

Currently, under HOPE, all students with a B average or higher receive full tuition to a public college and money for books and fees. Technical school students also are eligible, and students who go to private colleges in Georgia can receive a $3,000 annual grant.

The problem is that HOPE has grown so costly that in a few years it will outpace the lottery revenue that pays for the program. A state commission was formed to look for ways to preserve the program while at the same time save money.

In an Atlanta Journal-Constitution interview last week, Perdue called for the commission to consider setting a minimum SAT score for HOPE scholars as a way of boosting the state's 50th-place national ranking on SATs. Perdue said a minimum score would give students an incentive to do well on the test, which is used by colleges to help determine admissions.

One of the things that makes such a move difficult is that average test scores of black students have historically been far below the state average, and well below the average scores of white students. Perdue did not suggest a specific score, but state figures show that if a 1000 SAT score had been included in HOPE requirements in fall 2000, African-Americans would have accounted for two-thirds of the students who would not have met the criteria. According to officials at the University of Georgia, only 1,500 African-Americans in Georgia scored above 1000 on the SAT in 2001.

However, Perdue also points to figures showing only about one-quarter of HOPE scholars with SATs below 1000 keep the scholarship after their first year in college. Under HOPE, students must maintain at least a B average in college to keep the scholarship.

In general, University System research shows, the higher the SAT, the more likely a student is to maintain the scholarship. For instance, less than 19 percent of students with SATs in the 800-899 range kept the scholarship after their first year, while about 70 percent with SATs from 1400 to 1499 kept it.

Senate President Pro tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) said he supports using a minimum SAT score as part of the HOPE equation. "I have been promoting that," Johnson said. "I believe adding SAT scores to the equation would focus students' attention more on SAT scores."

He doesn't believe it would be racially biased. "I don't believe African-Americans are any less capable of doing well on the SAT than whites are."

Johnson thinks such a proposal could pass the General Assembly "given an opportunity for open debate and a vote of conscience."

He added, "Those that are opposed to it ought to keep their mouth shut about Georgia's ranking on SAT scores."

However, Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta), a member of the House Democratic leadership, said the SAT is the wrong test to use because it's a national exam not tied to the curriculum Georgia students are taught. She doubts the proposal would have a chance in the General Assembly.

"The Legislature will recognize the HOPE scholarship as the most successful scholarship program in the country, and it will be very slow to throw new wrinkles into it until we've studied and looked at the issues very closely," she said. "I think it is particularly dangerous to use a test that is not related to the curriculum. It's just not a good idea."

Bruce Bellamy, a Lilburn parent who serves on the commission, also is skeptical. He expressed concern that underprivileged students who take the SAT might be the very ones to suffer if the HOPE scholarship becomes linked to the test.

As for the notion that linking the test and the scholarship will cause SAT scores to rise, Bellamy said it's possible, but it might be because schools tailor their curriculum to SAT preparation, not because students are learning more.

Commission member Michael Vollmer, president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, said several members of the panel support doing something like adding the SAT or end-of-course high school tests to the HOPE equation.

"There needs to be more stringent requirements out of high school," said Vollmer, who once served as the state's HOPE director. "It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that, when you look at the [low] percentage of students retaining the HOPE after their first year."

Staff writer Jennifer Brett contributed to this article.