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SB196
EYLYCC9-2
By Senator Orr
RFD: Finance and Taxation Education
First Read: 25-Feb-25
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First Read: 25-Feb-25
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to public high school education; to create the
Move on When Ready Act; to establish a program allowing
eligible 11th and 12th grade students to take all courses at
an eligible public institution of higher education and receive
high school credit for the coursework; to create the Move on
When Ready Fund and authorize the Chancellor of the Alabama
Community College System (ACCS) to administer the fund; to
authorize payment from the fund to a public institution of
higher education for courses taken pursuant to the program; to
provide for the calculation of the payment; to prohibit a
public institution of higher education from charging a student
for postsecondary coursework taken pursuant to the program; to
authorize the State Board of Education, in consultation with
the ACCS Board of Trustees and the Alabama Commission on
Higher Education's Council of Presidents, to adopt rules; and
to create criminal penalties for any person who enables a
public institution of higher education to wrongfully obtain
payments under this program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) This act shall be known and may be cited
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Section 1. (a) This act shall be known and may be cited
as the Move on When Ready Act.
(b) As used in this section, the following words have
the following meanings:
(1) ACCS. The Alabama Community College System.
(2) DEPARTMENT. The State Department of Education.
(3) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION or INSTITUTION. Each of the
following:
a. Any two-year public institution of higher education
in the state, including postsecondary technical colleges,
trade schools, community colleges, and junior colleges.
b. Any four-year public institution of higher
education, provided that institution chooses to participate in
the program.
(4) ELIGIBLE STUDENT. A student entering 11th or 12th
grade who spent the prior school year in attendance at a
public high school in this state who meets the eligibility
criteria adopted pursuant to this section.
(5) FUND. The Move on When Ready Fund created by this
section.
(6) PROGRAM. The arrangement authorized by this section
whereby an eligible student takes all of his or her courses,
as approved by subsection (f), at an eligible institution and
receives secondary credit from his or her high school with the
goal of completing graduation and high school diploma
requirements.
(7) SECONDARY CREDIT. High school credit for courses
taken at an eligible institution under the program.
(8) STATE BOARD. The State Board of Education.
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(8) STATE BOARD. The State Board of Education.
(c)(1) Any eligible student may apply to an eligible
institution to take courses at that institution which are
approved for secondary academic credit pursuant to subsection
(f). If accepted at an eligible institution, an eligible
student may take any approved course at that institution,
whether or not the course is taught during the regular public
school day, and receive secondary credit. While taking courses
at an eligible institution, a student shall be considered a
student of that institution and may not take any courses at
his or her high school. An eligible institution that accepts
an eligible student under the program may not receive any
state funds for that student unless the institution complies
with the requirements of this section.
(2) Nothing in this section shall affect or otherwise
replace any existing law or funding from the Legislature
relating to dual enrollment practices as of October 1, 2024.
(d) Except as otherwise provided, the state board shall
consult with the Board of Trustees of ACCS and the Alabama
Commission on Higher Education's Council of Presidents in
developing and adopting rules regarding the program,
including, but not limited to:
(1) Eligibility criteria for program participation,
including applicable state and federal testing requirements
for eligible students participating in the program; and
(2) The development of appropriate forms and counseling
guidelines for the program.
(e)(1) No later than April 1 of each year, each local
board of education shall provide general information about the
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board of education shall provide general information about the
program, including the appropriate forms, to all 10th and 11th
grade students in the district. The state board shall make the
appropriate forms and guidelines available to all local boards
of education and eligible institutions.
(2) Each local board of education shall also provide
counseling services in accordance with the counseling
guidelines to its students and their parents or guardians
before a student may enroll in the program. Prior to
participating in the program, a student and his or her parent
or guardian shall sign the form provided by the local board of
education, or by an eligible institution, stating that they
have received the counseling specified in this subsection and
that they understand the responsibilities that shall be
assumed in participating in the program.
(f)(1)a. Each local board of education shall grant
academic credit to an eligible student enrolled in a course at
an eligible institution if that course has been approved
pursuant to paragraph b. and if the student successfully
completes that course.
b. The state board and representatives of each
participating eligible institution shall collaborate to
approve courses for inclusion in the program. Any course that
is substantially comparable to a high school course approved
by the state board, other than a remedial or summer school
course, shall be approved. Co-requisite courses may be
approved for inclusion the program, provided that a student
may only receive one secondary credit for the completion of
both the co-requisite course and the companion college-level
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both the co-requisite course and the companion college-level
course.
c. The secondary credit granted shall be for the
comparable high school course.
(2) Secondary school credits granted for eligible
institution courses shall be counted toward graduation
requirements and subject area requirements of the local board
of education. Evidence of successful completion of each course
and secondary credits granted shall be included in the
eligible student's high school transcript. Secondary credit
for postsecondary courses shall be awarded in the same manner
as credits for dual enrollment courses.
(4) The state board shall establish rules to require
local boards of education to award a high school diploma to
any eligible student who is enrolled at an eligible
institution under the program, provided that: (i) the credit
earned at the institution satisfies course requirements needed
for the eligible student to complete high school graduation;
and (ii) the student is exempt from any state assessment
requirements that he or she would have been required to
complete as a junior or senior.
(g)(1) The Move on When Ready Fund is created within
the State Treasury. The Executive Director of the Alabama
Commission on Higher Education shall administer the fund. The
executive director shall use the fund to pay eligible
institutions the lesser of the following amounts for each
participating eligible student enrolled therein, less a
records fee of two hundred dollars ($200) for the
administration costs of the local board of education:
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administration costs of the local board of education:
a. The actual cost of tuition, materials, and fees
directly related to the courses taken by the eligible student
at the institution; or
b. The amount that the participating eligible student
would have earned if he or she had been in equivalent
instructional programs through the local board of education,
calculated pursuant to subdivision (2).
(2) The total allotment of funds to the local board of
education in which a participating student is enrolled at an
eligible institution shall be calculated as otherwise provided
in Title 16, Code of Alabama 1975, provided that during the
student's second year in the program, the calculation shall
include an ensuing reduction equivalent to the amount paid
from the fund to the eligible institution pursuant to this
subsection.
(3) The records fee contained in subdivision (1) may be
increased at the sole discretion of the state board by up to
four percent annually.
(4) Any monies appropriated shall be budgeted and
allotted pursuant to the Budget Management Act in accordance
with Article 4, commencing with Section 41-4-80 of Chapter 4
of Title 41, Code of Alabama 1975, and only in the amounts
provided by the Legislature in the general appropriations act
or other appropriations act.
(h) A student enrolled in an eligible institution for
secondary credit shall not be eligible for any other state
student financial aid for courses taken under the program.
(i) An eligible institution may not charge an eligible
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(i) An eligible institution may not charge an eligible
student for coursework taken pursuant to this program and
shall accept the payment made pursuant to subsection (g) as
full payment for the eligible student.
(j) Any person who knowingly makes or furnishes any
false statement or misrepresentation, or who accepts a
statement or misrepresentation knowing it to be false, for the
purpose of enabling an eligible institution to obtain
wrongfully any payment under this section shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.
Section 2. This act shall become effective on July 1,
2026.
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2026.
Senate
Read for the first time and referred
to the Senate committee on Finance
and Taxation Education
................25-Feb-25
Read for the second time and placed
on the calendar:
0 amendments
................27-Feb-25
Read for the third time and passed
as amended
Yeas 27
Nays 0
Abstains 0
................09-Apr-25
Patrick Harris,
Secretary.
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