Daily e-Edition
Evening e-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
Daily e-Edition
Evening e-Edition
Trending:
Glen Gilzean’s name is no longer on an Orange County Supervisor of Elections’ scholarship for high school students, according to an agreement with Valencia College signed Tuesday.
Gilzean, the outgoing supervisor of elections, plans to give every graduating senior at Jones and Evans high schools a scholarship to attend Valencia or Orange Technical College, according to an agreement made with the colleges in September.
The $2.1 million scholarship initially bore Gilzean’s name, but that was dropped in favor of calling it the “Orange County Promise of the Future” scholarship, the elections office and college agreed.
The planned scholarships prompted controversy when they were made public last week as they are to be paid for by unused election office money not spent this election cycle. Some officials said the money should have been returned to Orange County government, which funds the office, or used to improve election work.
Gilzean defended the scholarships in an interview Monday, saying they will help encourage young people to vote as students must be registered or pre-registered if they are not 18 to qualify and will help end the cycle of poverty. Both Evans and Jones serve large numbers of students from low-income families.
The scholarship aims to provide any 2025 graduate of either high school money to attend Valencia or the technical college if they take 12 credit hours per academic year and finish their program within five years. Tuition at Valencia costs about $4,700 for 12 credit hours, while the technical college college costs vary based on program of study.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings called the scholarship an “inappropriate” use of funds, and said Gilzean should have returned the money to the county. County Comptroller Phil Diamond said Orange’s attorney was looking into whether Gilzean was legally required to return the $2.1 million instead of spending it.
Karen Castor Dentel, a longtime Orange County School Board member who is set to take over as Orange’s elections chief, said if Gilzean intended to use the leftover money it would have been better spent addressing long lines at early voting centers and delays in mail-ballot delivery.
But Gilzean said the scholarship is an “innovative” approach to voter outreach, and that he is within his right to spend the $2.1 million since the county appropriates funds per election cycle.
Orange County Public Schools planned to host “festive” assemblies at both high schools on Friday where students would be surprised with the scholarship news, according to an email about the events sent from an OCPS employee to administrators and school board members.
The school district later said the assemblies were not confirmed and did not immediately respond to questions early Wednesday on whether they were still planning to hold them.
Copyright © 2024 Orlando Sentinel
