Ground rules being set for new Nevada scholarship program

Sunday, Sept. 19, 1999 | 2:05 a.m.

Nevada's State Board of Education has started hashing out some ground rules for the new Millennium Scholarships that will be doled out to all graduating seniors in the state who maintain a "B" average or better.

The board approved a resolution on Saturday asking the university system's Board of Regents to agree to at least two criteria:

- high school core curriculum outlined in Nevada law will be used as the yardstick to determine eligibility

- all students in both public and private schools must pass the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam to be eligible for the scholarship.

The scholarship money comes from the state's $48 million share of a national settlement with major tobacco companies. The program was created and championed by Gov. Kenny Guinn in this year's legislative session.

The program covers tuition and book costs at any public Nevada university or community college. It's estimated that at least 43 percent of state high school graduates, based on their grade point averages, would qualify.

The education board's resolution addresses some ambiguities in the law creating the program, which requires a 3.0 grade point average in core curriculum, but doesn't specify which core courses to consider.

State board member Bill Hanlon unsuccessfully suggested using cumulative instead of core grade point averages.

"I'm absolutely convinced this should be based on the core," said board member Gary Waters. "It would be wrong to base this on elective credit. If you do that, you include a lot of courses that aren't relevant."

Hanlon voiced concern about how the proposal would affect high school counselors. Grade point averages represent all courses taken in high school; breaking out core curriculum averages is going to mean extra work, he said.

"The counselors are going to have to figure out 700 scores each unless the universities want to do it themselves," Hanlon said. "Or are they relying on us for that?"

The state board will hold another public hearing on the matter Oct. 29 in Carson City.