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Senate Bill 1720 |
Senate Author: Patrick et al. |
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Effective: 6-14-13 |
House Sponsor: Clardy |
Senate Bill 1720 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to provide assistance in the repayment of eligible student loans for an eligible person who agrees to teach mathematics or science full-time for four consecutive years in a school district that receives federal funding, plus an additional four consecutive school years in any Texas public school, with certain exceptions to the requirement for those consecutive years of employment. The bill sets out eligibility requirements for a person's receipt of such loan repayment assistance under the math and science scholars loan repayment program and requires the coordinating board to determine the annual amount of the loan assistance payments in any year to an eligible person based on available funding and other relevant considerations.
Senate Bill 1720 establishes the mathematics and science teacher investment fund as a dedicated account in the general revenue fund, consisting of donations received for the fund and interest and other earnings from the fund's investment, to be used solely to provide repayment assistance under the program, including related administrative costs. The bill limits the total amount of loan repayment assistance paid under the program to the total amount of money available in the fund and caps at 4,000 the number of eligible persons who may be provided assistance under the program in any school year, following a three-year incremental escalation of that cap. The bill provides for an eligible person's continued receipt of loan repayment assistance after the first four years required for the initial eligibility but limits the amount of assistance the person may receive to 75 percent of the maximum annual amount determined by the coordinating board if the person transfers after the first four years to a school that does not receive federal funds.