Adds to existing law to establish the Idaho Promise Mentor Program.

ThislegislationauthorizesandcreatestheIdahoPromisementorprogramtobeadministeredbytheStateBoard of Education. Under the program, volunteer mentors will build relationships with Idaho high school students and their families, veterans, and other adults (“mentees”) to help them overcome financial and other barriers to earning postsecondary apprenticeships, job training certificates and associate and associate of applied science degrees. These career-ready credentials will qualify mentees for vacant, good paying Idaho jobs. The mentors will build relationships with mentees and their families and help mentees during the critical summer months following high school graduation when they no longer have access to high school counselors and have not yet connected with postsecondary program advisers. Current data show that about 4,000 graduating high school seniors who plan to enroll in postsecondary programs the following fall do not do so. The mentors will also help mentees and their families apply for Pell grants and other sources of funding, from which many will learn that programs they believed were beyond their financial ability are, in fact, within reach.