Section 69731 - Award of scholarships; community service scholarship committee(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 subsection (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 the applicant's 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 the applicant's family.(3) Whether the applicant would be the first member of the applicant's 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. For purposes of this determination, homelessness, as defined as a "homeless individual" within the meaning of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11302(a)), or as defined as a "homeless child or youth," as defined in subsection (2) of Section 725 of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11434a(2)), is an extenuating circumstance for students who are otherwise unable to meet the requirements deemed to constitute "satisfactory academic progress" at that institution that may be considered by the institution to alter or excuse compliance with those progress requirements.(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 the applicant's 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.Amended by Stats 2020 ch 285 (AB 2416),s 3, eff. 1/1/2021.