By Rangel H.B. No. 1844
76R1243 JSA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to student loan repayment assistance for classroom
1-3 teachers who commit to teach in certain public schools and school
1-4 districts.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter M, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 SUBCHAPTER M. TEXAS CLASSROOM TEACHERS
1-9 LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM [OF CERTAIN TEACHER EDUCATION LOANS]
1-10 Sec. 61.701. LOAN REPAYMENT AUTHORIZED. The [coordinating]
1-11 board shall [may] provide, in accordance with this subchapter and
1-12 board rules, assistance in the repayment of student loans for
1-13 classroom teachers who apply and qualify for the assistance.
1-14 Sec. 61.702. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. [(a)] To be
1-15 eligible to receive loan repayment assistance under this
1-16 subchapter, a person [teacher] must:
1-17 (1) apply to the [coordinating] board; [and]
1-18 (2) have completed at least one year of employment in
1-19 the elementary or secondary schools of this state;
1-20 (3) be a Texas resident as defined by board rules;
1-21 (4) hold an educator certificate in any field or
1-22 subject issued by the State Board for Educator Certification;
1-23 (5) have an outstanding balance on a student loan
1-24 eligible for repayment assistance under this subchapter; and
2-1 (6) enter into an agreement to serve as a classroom
2-2 teacher as provided by Section 61.704 [in an area or field of acute
2-3 teacher shortage as designated by the State Board of Education].
2-4 [(b) The coordinating board may provide by rule for
2-5 repayment assistance on a pro rata basis for teachers employed
2-6 part-time in an elementary or secondary school of this state in an
2-7 area or field of acute teacher shortage as designated by the State
2-8 Board of Education.]
2-9 Sec. 61.703. [LIMITATION. A teacher may not receive
2-10 repayment assistance grants for more than five years.]
2-11 [Sec. 61.704.] ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) A person may receive
2-12 [The coordinating board may provide] repayment assistance under
2-13 this subchapter for the repayment of any student loan for education
2-14 at an institution of higher education, including loans for
2-15 undergraduate education, received by the person [a teacher] through
2-16 any lender.
2-17 (b) The [coordinating] board may not provide repayment
2-18 assistance for a student loan that is in default at the time of the
2-19 person's [teacher's] application.
2-20 Sec. 61.704. AGREEMENT. (a) To qualify for loan repayment
2-21 assistance under this subchapter, a person must enter into a
2-22 written agreement with the board as provided by this section. The
2-23 agreement must specify the conditions the person must satisfy to
2-24 receive repayment assistance.
2-25 (b) The agreement must require the person, not later than
2-26 the fourth anniversary of the date the person enters into the
2-27 agreement, to serve three full school years as a classroom teacher:
3-1 (1) in an area or field of acute teacher shortage as
3-2 designated by the State Board of Education; or
3-3 (2) in a public school in this state that:
3-4 (A) is located in a school district with a
3-5 taxable wealth per student that entitles the district to an
3-6 allotment of state funds under Subchapter F, Chapter 42;
3-7 (B) is considered low-performing according to
3-8 any method provided by state law or used by the Texas Education
3-9 Agency;
3-10 (C) has requested and received substantially
3-11 more waivers of class size requirements than other school
3-12 districts;
3-13 (D) has experienced a shortage of classroom
3-14 teachers in one or more specific teaching fields as certified by
3-15 the commissioner of education; or
3-16 (E) is located in an area with substantially
3-17 lower income per capita or with a substantially higher unemployment
3-18 rate than the state as a whole, as determined by the board.
3-19 (c) Only service as a classroom teacher after the date the
3-20 person enters into the agreement may be used to satisfy the
3-21 teaching obligation under the agreement.
3-22 (d) The agreement must provide that the repayment assistance
3-23 the person receives before the person has served the full three
3-24 school years as a classroom teacher under the agreement constitutes
3-25 a loan until the person completes that three school years of
3-26 teaching service and satisfies any other applicable conditions of
3-27 the agreement. The agreement must require the person to sign a
4-1 promissory note acknowledging the conditional nature of the
4-2 repayment assistance received and promising to repay the amount of
4-3 that assistance received plus applicable interest and reasonable
4-4 collection costs if the person does not satisfy the applicable
4-5 conditions. The board shall determine the terms of the promissory
4-6 note. To the extent practicable, the terms must be the same as
4-7 those applicable to state or federally guaranteed student loans
4-8 made at the same time. All amounts collected in repayment of a
4-9 loan under this subsection, including interest, but excluding
4-10 collection costs paid by the board to another person to collect or
4-11 assist in collecting the amount, shall be deposited to the credit
4-12 of the trust fund established under Section 61.710.
4-13 Sec. 61.705. AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.
4-14 (a) A person who completes the person's teaching obligation and
4-15 satisfies the other conditions of the agreement entered into under
4-16 Section 61.704 is entitled to receive loan repayment assistance in
4-17 a total amount not to exceed the lesser of:
4-18 (1) one-half the total amount of the person's
4-19 outstanding student loans, including scheduled interest payments
4-20 that would become due if the loan is not prepaid, when the person
4-21 enters into the agreement; or
4-22 (2) $10,000.
4-23 (b) The board shall pay the person the repayment assistance
4-24 to which the person would become entitled on completing the
4-25 teaching obligation and satisfying the other conditions of the
4-26 person's agreement in equal monthly amounts during the first three
4-27 years after the person enters into the agreement.
5-1 (c) The board may enter into an agreement to provide loan
5-2 repayment assistance under this subchapter only to the extent money
5-3 in the trust fund established by Section 61.710 or money
5-4 appropriated to the trust fund for future deposit to the trust fund
5-5 will be sufficient to provide the repayment assistance as it
5-6 becomes payable. If that money will not be sufficient to provide
5-7 repayment assistance to each eligible applicant, the board shall
5-8 select persons to receive repayment assistance from the eligible
5-9 applicants on any basis the board considers reasonable to further
5-10 the purposes of this subchapter. [REPAYMENT. (a) The
5-11 coordinating board shall deliver any repayment made under this
5-12 subchapter in a lump sum payable to the lender and the teacher, in
5-13 accordance with federal law.]
5-14 [(b) A repayment made under this subchapter may be applied
5-15 to the principal amount of the loan and to interest that accrues.]
5-16 Sec. 61.706. INTERRUPTION OF TEACHING SERVICE. (a) The
5-17 board may grant a person a reasonable period of additional time to
5-18 complete the person's teaching obligation under the agreement
5-19 entered into under Section 61.704 if the person demonstrates to the
5-20 board that the person is unable to complete the teaching obligation
5-21 in the time required by the agreement because the person:
5-22 (1) has been called to active duty as a member of the
5-23 armed services of the United States;
5-24 (2) has become temporarily unable to teach because of
5-25 illness, injury, or similar circumstances;
5-26 (3) must perform family obligations inconsistent with
5-27 the performance of the required teaching obligation; or
6-1 (4) is subject to any other hardship or special
6-2 circumstances the board determines to be just cause to provide the
6-3 person with additional time to satisfy the required teaching
6-4 obligation.
6-5 (b) The board may grant loan repayment assistance to a
6-6 person who completes only a portion of the person's teaching
6-7 obligation under the agreement entered into under Section 61.704,
6-8 prorated according to the portion of the teaching obligation the
6-9 person actually completes, if the person demonstrates to the board
6-10 that the person is unable to complete the required teaching
6-11 obligation because the person:
6-12 (1) has become permanently or temporarily disabled so
6-13 that the person is unable to teach; or
6-14 (2) is subject to any other hardship or special
6-15 circumstances the board determines to be just cause to waive the
6-16 remainder of the person's teaching obligation and award the person
6-17 partial loan repayment assistance.
6-18 Sec. 61.707. ADVISORY COMMITTEES. The [coordinating] board
6-19 may appoint advisory committees from outside the board's
6-20 membership to assist the board in performing its duties under this
6-21 subchapter.
6-22 Sec. 61.708 [61.707]. ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS. The
6-23 [coordinating] board may solicit and accept gifts, grants, and
6-24 donations for the purposes of this subchapter.
6-25 Sec. 61.709 [61.708]. RULES; DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION.
6-26 (a) The [coordinating] board shall adopt rules necessary for the
6-27 administration of this subchapter[, including a rule that sets a
7-1 maximum amount of repayment assistance that may be received by a
7-2 teacher in one year].
7-3 (b) The [coordinating] board shall distribute a copy of the
7-4 rules adopted under this section and pertinent information relating
7-5 to the program established by [in] this subchapter to:
7-6 (1) each institution of higher education that offers a
7-7 teacher education program;
7-8 (2) any other appropriate state agency; and
7-9 (3) any appropriate professional association.
7-10 Sec. 61.710. FUNDING. (a) The loan repayment assistance
7-11 program established by this subchapter is funded from the classroom
7-12 teacher loan repayment trust fund. The trust fund is established
7-13 outside the treasury and is administered by the comptroller. Money
7-14 in the trust fund may be spent without appropriation and only to
7-15 fund the program. Interest and income from the assets of the trust
7-16 fund shall be credited to and deposited in the trust fund.
7-17 (b) The legislature may appropriate money for deposit to the
7-18 credit of the trust fund.
7-19 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
7-20 (b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
7-21 begin granting student loan repayment assistance under Subchapter
7-22 M, Chapter 61, Education Code, as amended by this Act, as soon as
7-23 practicable after the effective date of this Act.
7-24 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
7-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.