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Proposed law would toughen TOPS standards

BATON ROUGE – High school freshmen may need to spend an extra hour or two a week studying if a proposed law that passed, 53-32, through the House Tuesday evening makes it through the Senate and is signed into law.
House Bill 117 by Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, would raise the popular, merit-based Taylor Opportunity Program for Students’ (TOPS) minimum GPA requirement from a 2.5 to a 2.75, effective in 2021.
Foil’s legislation would also raise the minimum GPA required for a TOPS Performance Award from a 3.0 to a 3.25 and for a TOPS Honors Award from a 3.0 to a 3.5. It would keep the TOPS-Tech Award at its current 2.5 GPA criteria.
“Setting the bar a little bit higher is a reasonable approach,” Foil argued
Foil said the bill’s fiscal note has a high end savings of $7.5 million, meaning there probably would not be as many students receiving the scholarship as there is now.
However, a number of Democratic legislators brought forth concerns the bill would produce unintended consequences.
Rep. Joseph Bouie, D-New Orleans, noted that if the bill were to go into effect now, nearly 2,000 students would not receive TOPS. Rep. Kenny Cox, D-Natchitoches, added that disadvantaged and minority communities already struggle to get into college.
Cox later offered an unsuccessful amendment to lower the TOPS-Tech ACT score requirement to a 1.5.
Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport, asked Foil for the racial breakdown of current TOPS recipients, which he said he did not have. She argued TOPS originated as a scholarship program for underprivileged students and its legacy should be honored.
“Changing the GPA is not fair to everybody,” Norton said. “It’s not fair.”
One of the few Democrats in support of the legislation, Rep. Edward C. “Ted” James, D-Baton Rouge, countered, saying Foil’s bill would keep TOPS sustainable. He said if it were up to him, he would raise the GPA requirement to a 3.0.
“When we create a culture of low expectations, you get what you’re asking for,” James said.
Foil argued the scholarship program selects its recipients based on GPA and ACT score, so that is what he tapped into with his legislation.
Rep. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans, also offered an amendment that would have allocated any savings in TOPS money from the GPA requirement increase to the needs-based Louisiana Go Grant program, which ultimately failed after Foil eventually withdrew his support.

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