A descriptive policy case study of the agenda setting and policy formulation stages of Florida's "Bright Futures" merit-based aid program

This descriptive case study examined the policy origins of Florida's popular, lottery-funded "Bright Futures" merit-based aid program. Using John Kingdon's process model of agenda setting and policy formulation as a descriptive theory, three research questions framed the study, focusing on the existing issues/problems that the "Bright Futures" legislation was designed to address, the political factors that created a favorable environment for its consideration, and the development of the policy itself. Data were collected through both qualitative techniques, including ten semi-structured interviews and document analysis of legislative and relevant mass media documents, and from descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative data from Florida, federal, and other sources. Several findings emerged from the study. First, Florida's desire to create the "Bright Futures" award was congruent with traditional purposes of merit-based aid programs: promote and reward high school academic achievement, and provide an incentive for the "best and brightest" high school students to remain in-state for postsecondary education and subsequent career pursuits. Data suggest, however, that a more prominent catalyst was the need to satisfy the public's demand for lottery and education funding reform. This demand arose from the perception that state lottery funds were being used to supplant lost general revenue funds for education, instead of providing an additional educational enhancement as stipulated with the lottery's introduction in 1988. Second, four key stakeholders emerged in the study, and their values, beliefs, and educational philosophy clearly frame the "Bright Futures" award. By folding the state's existing academically-rigorous and vocational-focused postsecondary merit-based aid programs into the "Bright Futures" legislation, and creating a new middle-tier award with modest standards, these stakeholders' intentions are characterized as "access, but preparation" - providing increasing levels of benefits based on meritorious high school performance, in an overall effort to reward individual achievement, determination, and positive behavior. The findings of the study provide useful insights into the public policy origins of merit-based aid programs; and additionally, suggest that although fifteen states enacted these programs in the late 1990s and new century to achieve the traditional goals of these programs, each state also had unique catalysts for program adoption.