Authority: Title 2.1, Chapter 5.4; § 2.1-51.10:1, Code of Virginia.

A. By October 15, of the first year of the biennium each public institution of higher education and the Community College System shall submit to the Secretary of Education and the State Council of Higher Education a report on progress toward implementing its strategic plan. Such plans should continue to pursue the principles of restructuring, accountability, and efficiency and include an assessment of the effectiveness of academic programs. The progress reports shall be prepared according to a format approved by the Secretary of Education and the State Council of Higher Education. A presentation on the progress of institutions in implementing their plans shall be made by the Secretary and the State Council of Higher Education to the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees at their regularly scheduled meetings in November.

B. The Secretary of Education is hereby authorized to make allocations to qualified zone academies of the portion of the national zone academy bond limitation amount to be allocated annually to the Commonwealth of Virginia pursuant to Section 1397E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and to provide for carryovers of any unused limitation amount. In making such allocations, the Secretary of Education is directed to give priority to allocation requests for qualified zone academies having at least 35 percent free lunch participation and either (i) located in federal enterprise communities or (ii) located in cities and counties within which federal enterprise communities are located.

C. The Secretary of Education, in cooperation with the State Council of Higher Education and the Department of Education, shall develop a plan for establishing the New Century Scholars program, a new college scholarship program for high school students.