HB 181, which was introduced on Monday, Sept. 25, calls for the creation of the Sunshine Scholarship Program, which would cover the total cost of in state college tuition for students with an annual household income under $125,000.
The catch? Students would have to stay and work in Florida for the same number of years that they benefitted from the program. If students leave the state, they would have to repay all scholarship funding with interest.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a similar plan in January of this year, and in the same month, Governor Gina M. Raimondo of Rhode Island introduced a plan to cover 2 years of students’ college tuition.
Jones’ bill was filed for the 2018 legislative session, which meets in January of next year. In the meantime, the South Florida Democrat from West Park has been busy proposing bans on confederate statues, signs and names from all public property.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2017.