A plan that would provide Delaware high school graduates with scholarships to attend Delaware State University cleared a Senate committee Aug. 11, paving the way for its passage in a special one-day legislative session slated for next month.

The Senate Education Committee lent unanimous approval to House Bill 399, which would pay for six semesters worth of DSU tuition for in-state students who graduate from a Delaware high school with clean records and GPAs of at least 2.75.

On the final day of the regular 2010 legislative session, the House of Representatives passed the bill without a single dissenting vote, but Senate President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca, D-Varlano, refused to bring the measure before his chamber.

DeLuca said the Senate needed proper time to consider the bill and he didn’t want to rush it through in the waning hours of the session.

After heavy criticism, DeLuca agreed to have the Education Committee convene a special out-of-session hearing to consider the bill, then, with the committee’s blessing, schedule the bill for a vote on the day the Senate meets to act on gubernatorial appointments.

DeLuca said that session tentatively is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 21, pending the governor’s approval.

During the hearing, lawmakers expressed nothing but support for HB 399.

“The investment we’re making in our students should pay huge dividends for them personally, and for our state,” said Rep. Darryl Scott, D-Dover, the bill’s lead sponsor.

The plan, called the Delaware State Inspire scholarship, is modeled on the successful SEED scholarship program created under former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, which pays the tuition of in-state high school graduates who enroll in two-year associate’s degree programs at Delaware Technical and Community College or the University of Delaware.

Delaware State is not included in the SEED program because it offers only four-year degrees.

Co-sponsor Sen. Brian Bushweller, D-Dover North, said it’s important students have the ability to apply for state scholarships in pursuit of four-year diplomas.

“It is fitting and right that DSU students be given that opportunity as it will provide all graduates of Delaware high schools who want to attend a public institution of higher learning here in Delaware with a full menu of options,” he said.

Several DSU alumni and faculty members attended the hearing to voice their support.

Many said their dream for the Inspire program is to help students attend college who otherwise wouldn’t.

“We all know that often people who don’t have monetary resources have other resources,” said Dr. Marlene Saunders, a professor in the graduate social work program. “They deserve to show off their skills.”

University President Dr. Harry L. Williams said DSU already has identified 140 incoming freshman who are eligible to receive Inspire scholarships.

Even though the Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill after the start of the fall semester, Williams said the pre-selected students would receive their scholarships retroactively.

“We’re very excited about what is happening,” he said. “We still have another step, but this is significant.”

According to the bill, an Inspire recipient would receive $2,676 per year, the same amount given to a SEED student.

Estimates prepared by the Controller General’s office say the program will cost $372,000 in the current fiscal year, $707,000 next fiscal year and slightly more than $1 million in fiscal year 2013.

For this year, the General Assembly’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee drafted language that gives DSU the authority to spend money from the federal stimulus package on the Inspire program.

That language passed as part of the annual Grant-in-Aid bill, the last piece of the budget puzzle to fall into place at the close of the legislative session.

Delaware State received roughly $885,000 in stimulus funds that can be used for the Inspire program, according to the Controller General Russell Larson.

Larson warned that, going forward, the state will have to find another way to fund the program.

“The stimulus money goes away,” he said. “They’ll theoretically have half of it left over, then they’re on their own.”

Bushweller said that he’s discussed the matter with Gov. Jack Markell, who gave him a positive response.

“The governor does intend to propose in his fiscal [year 2012] budget an appropriation for the Inspire scholarship,” he said.

Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com

After killing a bill that would have set up a state scholarship program for students attending Delaware State University, the leader of the state Senate now says the chamber will vote on the legislation during its one-day special session this fall.

In the waning hours of the General Assembly’s 2010 session July 1, President Pro Tem Anthony DeLuca, D-Varlano, said he and his colleagues were too exhausted to consider a House bill that would have provided 139 Delaware high school graduates with a total of $372,000 in scholarships to DSU this year.

The initiative, called the Delaware State Inspire Scholarship, had wide bipartisan support and the funding it needed to get off the ground, at least for the coming school year.

Other lawmakers were shocked and confused to learn that the legislation creating the scholarship would not see a vote on the Senate floor — a decision made solely by DeLuca.

With the session heading past 1 a.m., DeLuca said his chamber was not prepared to take up a significant issue like the scholarship bill, even though it’s not uncommon for both houses of the legislature to work into the wee hours on their final day of business, discussing such weighty business as the state budget until the bitter end.

“We’re all too tired,” DeLuca said immediately after adjourning his chamber at 1:46 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than the House.

DeLuca took heavy flak for his decision in the days following the session’s end, particularly from local talk radio pundits.

Late on July 2, DeLuca released a statement saying the Senate Education Committee would review the Inspire bill and the legislation would be placed on the agenda for the chamber’s special fall session, called to act on gubernatorial appointments.

“I want this to get a thorough, full and fair review,” DeLuca said.

The Inspire program would be similar to the SEED Scholarship, which gives an in-state high-school graduate with at least a 2.5 GPA full tuition for a two-year degree from the University of Delaware or Delaware Technical & Community College.

Inspire students would need a 2.75 GPA, but could qualify for as many as six semesters worth of tuition in pursuit of a four-year diploma.

The legislation creating the Inspire program, authored by Rep. Darryl Scott, D-Dover, was introduced May 6 and received two favorable committee hearings in the House. The bill was written so the scholarship program would take effect only when money became available to fund it, making it an easy sell for even the most budget-conscious legislators.

But the House waited until 9 p.m. July 1 to bring the bill to the floor for a vote — a move that indicated there were plans in the works to find money for the program.

Those suspicions were confirmed when, shortly before 1 a.m., the annual Grant-in-Aid Bill was introduced in the Senate, with a two-sentence addendum giving DSU authority to fund the Inspire program using the state money it receives for operating costs or any of the $2.9 million in federal stimulus cash it’s getting this year.

The Grant-in-Aid Bill, traditionally the last of the yearly budget bills to come up for a vote, cleared the Senate and was sent to the House shortly after 1 a.m.

When the House leadership learned the Grant-in-Aid Bill did in fact include money for the Inspire program, they immediately asked their counterparts in the Senate to put the scholarship’s enabling legislation on the fast track.

In a highly unusual move, Speaker of the House Robert Gilligan, D-Sherwood Park, left his chamber, walked across the hall to the Senate and asked DeLuca to come down from the dais for a private discussion on the Inspire bill.

Shortly after, the Senate wrapped up a few final pieces of business and adjourned.
DeLuca said after adjournment that not only was the Senate too weary to delve into the Inspire bill, but he and his colleagues knew almost nothing about the legislation or its importance to the members of the House.

“It was not on an agenda anywhere, we had no knowledge the House had worked that bill,” he said.

Scott called the turn of events “unfortunate.”

“This would have provided over 100 kids, many the first in their families to attend [college], with opportunity,” he said.

Scott said he never would have thought the Inspire scholarship would get the funding it needed, or that if it did the enabling legislation would not be put forward.

“I didn’t think we’d ever have that problem,” he said.

House Minority Leader Richard C. Cathcart, D-Middletown, said he didn’t buy DeLuca’s reasons for not running the bill.

“It was a bill the speaker had made public statements about. It had tremendous support in the House,” he said. “I find it impossible to believe [DeLuca] didn’t hear about a bill that was introduced two months ago.

“There’s some underlying reason he’s not sharing with the public.”

Cathcart is DSU’s vice president for operations and recused himself from voting on the Inspire bill or participating in discussion on the floor, but he said the scholarship is something the university has been pushing for with great enthusiasm.

Since the introduction of the SEED program, DSU’s enrollment is down among Delaware high school graduates, he said.

“If you’re going to reward students for doing well in high school, why not let them go to a four-year school?” he said.

Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com.