Senator Anthony Portantino, (D-La Cañada Flintridge) is happy to announce that the Senate Budget Committee adopted the Portantino proposals into the Senate Budget.

These three proposals are meant to assist to the Armenian American Community. Portantino, who is the Chair of the State Senate Education Budget Sub-Committee, submitted a request for full tuition scholarships at Hastings College of Law for graduates of the American University of Armenia, $500,000 state grant to create study guides for California schools to properly teach the Armenian Genocide, as well as $500,000 ongoing funding source for Glendale Community College to offset cost of closing the campus on April 24th.

“As the representative of the largest Armenian American community, I have unique opportunity to learn from my friends and then try to help where I can. This proposal will help students succeed and have the opportunity to obtain their law degrees from a high credited institution. This year, I’m excited by the six scholarships to help talented young people have the opportunity to obtain law degrees from a highly respected law school. I also appreciate that while education is very important for the future, we must also remember our past. I am pleased to be in the position to help educate all of California’s students the historical significance of the Armenian Genocide.  And lastly, I wanted to make sure that GCC isn’t penalized financially for properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide by taking April 24th off,” commented Senator Portantino.

“For many years, one of the top priorities of the ANCA-WR has been to formulate a framework and create tools to properly teach Armenian Genocide education in public schools. We are very grateful to Senator Portantino for being so responsive to our concerns and for his ongoing efforts to secure the funding and resources necessary to implement teacher training and publication of educational materials needed to accomplish this goal. We look forward to continued success on this front,” noted Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region Chair, Nora Hovsepian.

Portantino proposed the scholarship idea to Armen Der Kiureghian, President of AUA, who immediately offered his support for the proposal.

Portantino’s Senate proposals will next go to the Conference Committee between the Senate and the Assembly which is tasked to reconcile budget differences between the two legislative houses.  The Senator is cautiously optimistic for a successful outcome.