Article 11.5. Willie L. Brown, Jr. Community Service Scholarship Program of California Education Code >> Division 5. >> Title 3. >> Part 42. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 11.5.
There is hereby established the Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Community Service Scholarship Program, the purpose of which shall be
to reward pupils for volunteering to serve their communities, to
address serious social and economic community needs, and to increase
the tendency of youth to be involved in public service. The program
shall be administered by the Student Aid Commission. Pursuant to that
authority, the commission shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide information regarding the program to each school
district in this state. Any public high school of this state, other
than any continuation or alternative high school, may participate in
the program upon request. Each participating high school shall
provide adequate notice to its pupils of the availability of the
scholarships authorized under this article.
(b) Establish a model scholarship application form of no more than
one page in length, requiring no more than 25 data elements, and
provide copies of that application form to all participating high
schools. Participating high schools may use either the model form or
their own scholarship application form. Scholarship funds to be
awarded pursuant to this article shall be provided without regard to
the requirements otherwise set forth in this chapter.
(c) Conduct periodic reviews in order to ensure that the selection
of scholarship recipients is conducted in compliance with this
article.
(a) At least one scholarship under this article shall be
made available each year to each high school participating in the
program to award to a pupil who is enrolled in that high school. One
additional scholarship shall be available each year to each
participating high school for each 1,000 pupils enrolled in that
school in excess of 1,000 pupils.
(b) Each participating high school shall establish and maintain a
community service scholarship committee that consists of the
following persons:
(1) One full-time teacher employed by the school.
(2) One employee of the school who is a classified employee or
pupil counselor, and who has contributed to the academic or personal
development of high school pupils. In the event that no person meets
those qualifications, the principal of the school shall designate any
other employee of the school to serve on the committee.
(3) One parent of any pupil who is enrolled in the high school but
is not an applicant for a scholarship under this article.
(4) Two representatives from community organizations or agencies,
as described in subdivision (c).
(c) Scholarships made available to the participating high school
shall be awarded by the community service scholarship committee to
pupil applicants determined by a majority vote of the membership of
the committee to have made significant contributions to the community
through community service. For the purposes of this article,
"community service" means volunteer work for any nonprofit
organization that meets the description set forth in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (c) of Section 501 of Title 26 of the United States
Code, or for any other community service agency or organization that
is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and nonsectarian, which work is performed
to further purposes of education, environmental quality, health care,
local, state, or federally funded public assistance, public safety
crime prevention or control, transportation, recreation, housing and
neighborhood improvement, rural development, conservation, child
care, senior citizens' quality of life, outdoor beautification, or
any other purpose of human betterment and community improvement. In
the event that the community service scholarship committee determines
that the number of applicants who qualify for a scholarship under
this subdivision exceeds the number of scholarships available to the
high school under this article, the committee shall apply the
following additional criteria in order to select scholarship
recipients:
(1) The applicant's financial status, including his or her ability
to finance a college education.
(2) The extent to which the applicant's capacity to provide
volunteer service has been limited by the applicant's other
extracurricular activities, summer or part-time employment, or
responsibilities to his or her family.
(3) Whether the applicant would be the first member of his or her
immediate family to attend an institution of higher education.
(d) Each scholarship awarded shall be for a period of one year,
subject to the requirement that no scholarship funding shall be
payable as to any academic term in which the recipient fails to both
maintain a course load of at least six semester units or the
equivalent and meet or exceed the institution's standards for
satisfactory academic progress.
(e) No later than June 15 of each year, the community service
scholarship committee of each participating high school shall notify
the Student Aid Commission of the names of the scholarship recipients
selected by the committee, or, alternatively, that no pupil
applicants were determined by the committee to qualify for a
scholarship pursuant to subdivision (c). No later than August 15 of
that year, the commission shall provide funding for the subsequent
academic year for each scholarship awarded pursuant to this section,
in an amount equal to the amount of the undergraduate student fees
charged for that school year by the University of California, except
that no such allotment shall be in an amount of less than one
thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500).
(f) Scholarship funding provided under this article may be applied
to educational costs incurred by the recipient pursuant to his or
her attendance at an institution of higher education. Those costs may
include, but are not necessarily limited to, tuition, fees,
instructional materials, and room and board.
(g) Scholarships shall be funded under this article to the extent
funds are made available for that purpose.
(h) This article shall not be construed to prevent any
participating high school or pupil from seeking private or other
funding sources to supplement the amount of any scholarship or
scholarships awarded under this article. Any scholarship or
scholarships awarded under this article shall augment, and not
supplant, student financial aid from other sources.
Each applicant for a scholarship under this article shall
meet all of the following qualifications:
(a) Is maintaining satisfactory educational progress, as defined
in Section 35160.5.
(b) Has provided volunteer service to one or more community
organizations or agencies, as described in subdivision (c).
(c) Is eligible to graduate from high school in the school year in
which the application is made.
(d) Intends to attend an institution of higher education in
California during the subsequent school year, and to maintain a
course load of at least six semester units or the equivalent.
(e) Is a resident of California.