The House Education Committee did not pass a bill to make a TOPS recipient pay back some or all of their scholarship if they fail or withdraw from school. New Orleans Representative Walt Leger says changing TOPS to a loan makes it less of an opportunity for students.
Hammond Representative Chris Broadwater proposed a bill that would make TOPS a partial scholarship, in which recipients would receive more money each year. That bill also failed to make it out of committee. Broadwater says lawmakers have to do something to save the TOPS program.
The committee also rejected a proposal to increase the GPA a college student must achieve to keep their TOPS scholarship.
A rally in support of legislation to have 17-year-olds charged as juveniles rather than adults took place on the State Capitol steps yesterday. Meg Garvey with the Youth Justice Coalition says Louisiana is one of only 9 states that routinely prosecutes 17-year-olds as adults… with a law like this.
Governor John Bel Edwards is spoke at the rally.
A bill that would prevent local governments from removing Confederate monuments failed in a Senate Committee today. Opponents for the legislation believe it shouldn’t be up to the state what happens to city property. Democrats on the panel voted against the bill, while Republicans supported it. Author of the legislation Franklinton Senator Beth Mizell urged legislators to vote favorably to allow the monuments to educate future generations…
The bill failed on a 5-4 vote.