KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon said Monday he will call on lawmakers to expand the Missouri Bright Flight scholarship program by $15 million when he presents his fiscal year 2015 budget proposal during the state of the state address early next year.
Speaking here at the Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Nixon said as the program is currently, students with high academic credentials are only eligible for $2,500 a year, far short of what he believes the program should be to be fully functional.
“That is not enough,” he said, announcing is proposal that would – if approved by lawmakers – allow an additional award of $5,000 per student if they stay and work in Missouri upon graduation.
“For the state,” Nixon continued, “Bright Flight Boost is a smart investment with a big return in the form of a well-educated, highly qualified workforce. For students, it is a significant incentive to not only go to college, but also to graduate and then stay to pursue rewarding careers and follow their dreams.”
At Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, an area magnet school where student are required to take an entrance exam to enroll, students living in a predominantly poor part of Kansas City are among the state’s top academic performers and most planned to go to college upon graduation.
The announcement comes after Nixon, a Democrat, pledged earlier this fall to expand education access and affordability for Missouri students, part of a broader proposal to make Missouri more competitive internationally.
“The reason we are making (school) harder and want you to be debt free when your graduate is the competition you’re in for the jobs of the future is worldwide,” he told the full auditorium of students.
Currently, the program is funded at $16.3 million, a $3 million increase since fiscal year 2011. In 2011, 2012, and 2013, the program was subject to some $8 million in budgetary withholds by Nixon. This fiscal year, Nixon has not withheld any money from the program.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said Bright Flight “is a tremendous program” for Missouri education, and said he wanted to work with Nixon on finding the funds for the additional $15 million appropriation.
“I’ve always been a strong supporter of Bright Flight as well as Access Missouri,” he said. “I look forward to helping him fund that, if it’s going to be one of his priorities.”