CHSA is pleased to make available a tracker, which will updated approximately every two weeks, compiling bills and regulatory actions impacting college in high school programs such as dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment, and early college high school across the country.
The tracker includes information and links to the bills, current status, a brief summary, and how each bill or action could be categorized according to CHSA’s Unlocking Potential framework for policy for college in high school programs.
If you have any questions about the tracker, please contact us. This tracker is maintained by Foresight Law + Policy.
Updated February 3, 2023
Legislative Updates
The following bills had significant status updates:
- North Dakota HB1030 – Passed House - Amends existing law relating to dual-credit courses and the tuition scholarship program. Amendments include specifying that the dual-credit tuition scholarship program is available to students for the cost of tuition and fees at accredited in-state public private, or tribal institutions of higher education (existing law does not require the IHE program to be accredited). This bill also amends the total amount of scholarship available - this would now include $250 for 1 successfully completed dual-credit course, $500 for two, or $750 for 3 or more successfully completed dual-credit courses.
- North Dakota HB1156 – Passed House - The center for distance education courses provides kindergarten through grade 12 courses. This bill would amend existing law relating to the center to specify that the center may provide services to persons who are not North Dakota residents, including entering an agreement with a regionally accredited postsecondary institution to provide high school and postsecondary credit for the completion of an academic course.
The following bills were introduced:
- Delaware HB75 - This bill specifies for the fiscal year 2023, any sums for dual enrollment, and other specified programs, will become continuing appropriations in school districts and charter schools and will not be subject to reversion until June 30, 2024.
- Hawaii SB391 - This bill notes the legislature finds that the expansion of dual credit opportunities, such as early college, have benefited students throughout the state by enabling students to begin pursuing their educational and career goals while in high school. The purpose of this bill is to utilize the university of Hawaii's community colleges through appropriating funds for the administration, training, and student support of the colleges' workforce development programs, including for students who are enrolled in public high schools in the state.
- Hawaii SB834 - This bill notes the legislature finds that students in the state have benefitted from the community colleges' dual credit opportunities, like early college, which enable students to begin pursuing their educational and career goals while completing high school. This bill provides an appropriation for the 2024-2025 fiscal year for the university of Hawaii community college workforce development programs to fund administration; training; positions; and student support, especially support for dual credit high school students.
- Illinois HB1213 - This bill provides that scholarships awarded under the Teach Illinois Scholarship Program may be granted to individuals employed as teachers who agree to pursue a master's degree at a qualified institution of higher learning in order to teach dual credit courses at a secondary school. This bill would require any individual receiving a scholarship to teach dual credit courses, following the completion of the program of study, the individual must teach at least one dual credit course per school year in a secondary school in the state for a period of at least 5 years.
- Iowa SSB1076 - This bill makes amendments to existing law relating to agreements between school districts and community colleges for the offering of any unit, provided certain requirements are met.
- Massachusetts HD1568, HD3377, & SD2172 - This bill establishes a workforce skills cabinet, which is charged with developing a set of strategic goals for the Commonwealth, its agencies, and education and training institutions regarding the expansion of college and career pathway programs for students. Goals must include the achievement of universal access for all of the state's high school students to the pathway programs, including early college programs, vocational/technical education programs, innovation pathway programs, STEM tech career academies, and other similar programs and courses of study.
- Massachusetts HD2419 – This bill requires the board of elementary and secondary education to establish regulations relating to academic acceleration for students. In developing these regulations, the department is required to consider certain acceleration strategies, including concurrent or dual enrollment, and early college.
- Massachusetts HD2434 - This bill relates to educational equity for gifted and beyond grade-level children. This bill specifies that per ESSA requirements for reporting, each school district is required to report how federal funds will be used to provide training and to support the identification of students who are gifted and talented, and implementing instructional practices that support the education of such students, which may include dual or concurrent enrollment programs in secondary school and post-secondary education.
- Massachusetts HD3419 & SD1306 - This bill creates an office of career technical education within the department of elementary and secondary education. The office is tasked with encouraging and working to increase the use of articulation agreements with community colleges and public universities and other dual credit programs to allow career technical education students to earn credit and stacked credentials that lead to an associate's degree.
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Massachusetts HD3512 & SD2124 - This bill amends existing law and requires all public institutions of higher education to develop written policies and procedures for accepting for the purposes of course credit to satisfy degree requirements the successful completion of college in high school courses, and other scores and courses as defined. The policy document must include procedures related to the transferability of credits to another institution of higher education. The board of higher education is tasked with annually reviewing the college in high school course-granting policies of each public institution of higher education. This bill also establishes the Massachusetts College in High School Trust Fund - these funds may be used to focus on underserved communities. The bill then establishes the Massachusetts Office of College in High School that is charged with administering high school programs that expand student access to college and postsecondary opportunities through high-quality instructional programing.
- Massachusetts SD1549 - This bill requires the department to administer an Early College Access Program, providing needs-based financial assistance for high school students eligible for the Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership. This assistance must be granted to students living in or attending high school in a gateway municipality and who also qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Students receiving financial assistance under the Early College Access Program will participate in CDEP at no cost and may earn up to 24 college credits.
- Massachusetts SD2301 - This bill requires the department to administer the Access College Early (ACE) Program, providing needs-based financial assistance for high school students eligible for the Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP). This assistance must be granted to students living in or attending high school in a gateway municipality and who also qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Students receiving financial assistance under the Early College Access Program will participate in CDEP at no cost and may earn up to 24 college credits.
- Massachusetts SD1697 - This bill establishes the office of vocational-technical education - one task of the office is to encourage and work to increase the use of articulation agreements with community colleges and public universities and other dual credit programs to allow vocational-technical students to earn credit leading to an associate's or bachelor's degree.
- Michigan SB23 - This bill amends existing law relating to counting students for full-time membership in a district - this amendment specifies that a student who participates in a work-based learning experience or work-based learning experience related to a state-approved career and technical education program may be counted as not more than 0.75 full-time equated membership in addition to the membership related to the student's concurrent enrollment in high school courses, not to exceed a total of 1.0 full-time equated membership.
- Minnesota HF320 & SF619 - This bill provides funding for expanded concurrent enrollment grants - these are specifically for institutions offering Introduction to Teaching and Introduction to Education college in the schools courses.
- Minnesota HF759 & SF757 - This bill provides that funds from the newly created computer science education advancement fund may be used for high quality professional learning opportunities for K-12 computer science content that includes concurrent enrollment credit computer science courses.
- Mississippi HB729 - This bill establishes the Mississippi Successful Techniques Resulting in Delivering Excellence in Education and Employability (STRIDE) Scholarship Program. This programm provides funding for students to cover costs associated with dual credit and dual enrollment options. Subject to an appropriation, for the 2023-2024 academic year, each academic dual credit student scholarship will be funded at $150 per semester hour of credit, and each career and technical dual credit student scholarship shall be funded at $250 per semester hour of credit. Several requirements are included in this bill for participation and the bill notes that students participating in the program would be responsible for paying for books, supplies, and transportation costs. Public school personnel would be required to assist parents in the process of enrolling students in courses.
- Mississippi HB1228 - This bill amends existing law relating to districts of innovation. Existing law requires these districts to establish goals and performance targets for district of innovation proposals - an amendment would allow districts to include the number of students who have access to dual enrollment courses within that those goals and performance targets.
- Mississippi HB1277 - This bill creates the Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program Act of 2023, which is to be administered by the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board. This bill provides that only courses on the "approved academic dual credit listing" would be eligible for funding in order to ensure appropriate articulation of college credits to other institutions. This bill would also exclude early college students and dual enrolled students from participating in the dual credit scholarship program.
- Mississippi HB1360 - Establishes the Mississippi High School Dropout Prevention Act of 2023, which requires the State Department of Education to work with school districts that have the lowest high school graduation rates. The department is tasked with developing specific methods of targeted intervention or identifying appropriate existing methods for low performing school districts, which may include alternative programs designed to reengage dropouts, including dual enrollment courses at the community college level; as well as offering full course fee waivers for students eligible for free and reduced lunches, when enrolled in dual credit courses.
- Mississippi HB1413 – Establishes the Hope and Opportunity Pathways through Education (HOPE) program, which would be used to develop a comprehensive system to re-enroll high school dropouts in programs that will enable them to earn their high school diploma. This bill lists several categories of programming, including dual enrollment opportunities.
- Mississippi HB1448 - This bill would require community and junior colleges to waive all tuition and fees for students graduating from a Mississippi High School. In order to qualify, students must be enrolling in college for the first time - the bill notes, however, that courses taken through a dual enrollment or dual credit program at a community or junior college or institution of higher learning while a student was enrolled in high school do not disqualify the student from eligibility for a waiver of tuition.
- Mississippi SB2487 - This bill creates the Mississippi Dual Credit Scholarship Program, which is to be administered by the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance Board. This bill provides that only courses on the "approved academic dual credit listing" would be eligible for funding in order to ensure appropriate articulation of college credits to other institutions. This bill would exclude early college students; middle college students may qualify, if the institution complies with the requirements of the Manual.
- Mississippi SB2490 - Creates the Reinforcing College Education on America's Constitutional Heritage Act (REACH Act) - state institutions of higher learning may exempt students from the requirements of the Act where the student completes 3 credit hours of specific courses, which may include in a dual enrollment course focused on American government or American history, if the dual enrollment course satisfies certain requirements.
- Montana HB257 - Amends existing law relating to advanced opportunity aid. Existing law specifies that 60% of a district's annual distribution of advanced opportunity aid must be spent or encumbered to address out-of-pocket costs that would otherwise, in the absence of such expenditure, be assumed by a qualifying student or the student's family as a result of participation in an advanced opportunity. This amendment would increase that to 75% of a district's annual distribution. Existing law provides that permissible expenditures include dual credit tuition at any institution under authority of the board of regents - an amendment would specify the expenditures are not limited to the list in the statute.
- Nebraska LB385 - This bill allows teachers to apply for high-need retention grants if the teacher completes a certification in certain topics, including dual credit - this bill also requires the teacher to complete a school year of full-time employment as a teacher at a Nebraska school in school years 2024-25, 2025-26, or 2026-27.
- Nebraska LB705 - This bill establishes the Career-Readiness and Dual-Credit Education Grant Program Act. This Act would require the creation and establishment of teacher education pathways enabling the instruction of dual-credit courses and career and technical education courses. This bill also creates a grant program to distribute money to teachers enrolled in education pathways leading to qualification to teach dual-credit courses.
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Nebraska LB814 - This bill provides appropriations for dual enrollment programs.
- New Mexico HB125 - Creates the dual credit task force - this task force is charged with examining current course offerings, dual credit enrollment practices, faculty hiring practices, student support services, credit transferability and current barriers to increasing dual credit participation in a seamless system for high school students to transition from diploma to terminal degree.
- New Mexico HB126 - This bill amends existing law relating to graduation requirements for students entering 9th grade in the 2024-25 school year. The amendments specify that nothing in the minimum graduation requirements would affect a student's opportunity to take advanced placement or honors courses, distance learning courses, or dual credit courses offered in cooperation with institutions of higher education.
- New Mexico HB214 - This appropriations bill provides an appropriation to the tribal college dual-credit program fund.
- Oklahoma SB520 - This bill amends existing law and specifies in order to graduate from a public high school with a standard diploma, students must complete certain work ready curriculum units or sets of competencies at the secondary level - this includes concurrently enrolled courses.
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Oklahoma SB531 - This bill amends existing law relating to reporting of student performance. Postsecondary opportunities are to be based on the percentage of high school students who meet at least one criteria enumerated in the bill. This criteria includes earning transcripted college credit while still in high school through concurrent or dual enrollment.
- South Dakota HB1122 - This bill authorizes the participation of 10th grade students in the dual credit program.
- Tennessee HB957 - This bill would allow an eligible independent postsecondary institution and certain private, nonprofit technical schools to charge dual enrollment students tuition or fees in an amount that exceeds the amount of the student's dual enrollment grant.
- Tennessee HB958 - This bill extends eligibility for a Tennessee middle college scholarship to students enrolled in any eligible postsecondary institution located in the state, instead of only eligible public two-year postsecondary institutions, that is partnering with a local education agency to offer middle college to students.
- Texas HB1 - This bill provides for appropriations for dual credit and early college programs.
- Virginia HB1887 - This bill amends existing law and specifies that school boards are encouraged to enter into collaborative agreements with comprehensive community colleges and other school boards to establish a competitive compensation structure to recruit and retain adjunct instructors who would be jointly compensated by the relevant school boards and colleges.
- West Virginia HB2941 - Existing law establishes the State Advisory Council on Postsecondary Attainment Goals - this council is tasked with reviewing and analyzing participating students and their outcomes, which includes college credit attainment through the career and technical education program, including dual enrollment or articulation. Existing law specifies the council will terminate on December 31, 2023. This bill extends that termination date to December 31, 2025.
- West Virginia HB3035 - This bill establishes the Grow Your Own West Virginia Pathway to Teaching Program. Applicants may receive funds through this program for a variety of purposes, including to increase the availability of dual credit offerings to high school students or to review and revise current dual credit or early college programs and any other existing programs that will complement and support the program.
Note: The following states are now in session – Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Utah.
Regulatory Updates
There are no major updates to report.