ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / August 30, 1999

RESERVE – Seniors at Riverside Academy can breath a sigh of relief. As of10:30 a.m. Thursday Aug. 26, the Riverside Academy class of 2000 waseligible for TOPS tuition money to attend college.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education at that time ruled that the school was in compliance with the Brumfield-Dodd decision.

Riverside Academy Principal Barry Heltz was happy with BESE’s ruling.

“I am elated and relieved,” he said. “I’m especially relieved for the parentsand seniors.”Until last month, Riverside Academy was one of 24 schools in the state that didn’t know whether or not their students would be TOPS eligible.

TOPS, or Tuition Opportunity Program for Seniors, is a program started back in 1993 by oil businessman Pat Taylor. The program promised fullcollege tuition scholarships to all Louisiana high school students that maintained a 2.5 grade point average and scored at least 20 on theAmerican College Test. Thousands of Louisiana students have successfullyapplied to TOPS since its inception.

However, this year the state Legislature decided to make the TOPS requirements stricter and also put restrictions on schools. The new lawsays all schools who wanted to be TOPS eligible had to be compliant with the Brumfield-Dodd court decision.

This judge in the Brumfield-Dodd case ruled that schools have to show that their admissions policy is open to all minorities before they can be eligible for federal or state programs like TOPS. Because RiversideAcademy didn’t accept federal or state funds, it was questioned whether the school was Brumfield-Dodd compliant.

“We had to fill out some forms that proved we had a non-discriminatory admission policy, ” said Heltz . “We’ve always had an open admissionspolicy.”That form was then sent to the Justice Department in Washington D.C.,where it was reviewed.

“That’s what took so long,” said Heltz. “Then they had to send it back toBESE with their approval and to make sure we had an open-door policy. Butwe are relieved and happy for our seniors.”

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