By Ellis S.B. No. 442
76R403 JSA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to student loan repayment assistance for certain
1-3 child-care workers.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 61, Education Code, is amended by adding
1-6 Subchapter T to read as follows:
1-7 SUBCHAPTER T. EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILD-CARE WORKER
1-8 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM
1-9 Sec. 61.871. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-10 (1) "Child-care facility" has the meaning assigned by
1-11 Section 42.002, Human Resources Code.
1-12 (2) "Eligible child-care facility" means a child-care
1-13 facility at which at least one-half of the children served are from
1-14 low-income families, as determined by the board, to whom child-care
1-15 services are provided at no cost or at reduced cost according to
1-16 each family's ability to pay.
1-17 (3) "Eligible child-care worker" means a person who
1-18 works full-time, as determined by the board, in an eligible
1-19 child-care facility, whether as an employee, owner, or volunteer,
1-20 and whose duties consist primarily of providing child care or
1-21 education to children less than four years of age.
1-22 Sec. 61.872. LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED. The
1-23 board shall provide, in accordance with this subchapter and board
1-24 rules, assistance in the repayment of eligible student loans for
2-1 persons who apply and qualify for the assistance.
2-2 Sec. 61.873. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. To be eligible to
2-3 receive loan repayment assistance under this subchapter, a person
2-4 must:
2-5 (1) hold an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate
2-6 degree in early childhood development or the equivalent from a
2-7 public or private institution of higher education accredited by a
2-8 recognized accrediting agency; and
2-9 (2) enter into an agreement to serve as a child-care
2-10 worker as provided by Section 61.875.
2-11 Sec. 61.874. ELIGIBLE LOANS. (a) A person may receive loan
2-12 repayment assistance under this subchapter for the repayment of any
2-13 student loan for education at an institution of higher education
2-14 through any lender. If the loan is not a state or federal
2-15 guaranteed student loan, the note or other writing governing the
2-16 terms of the loan must require the loan proceeds to be used for
2-17 expenses incurred by a person attending an institution of higher
2-18 education.
2-19 (b) The board may not provide repayment assistance for a
2-20 student loan that is in default at the time of the person's
2-21 application.
2-22 Sec. 61.875. AGREEMENT. (a) To qualify for loan repayment
2-23 assistance under this subchapter, a person must enter into a
2-24 written agreement with the board as provided by this section. The
2-25 agreement must specify the conditions the person must satisfy to
2-26 receive repayment assistance.
2-27 (b) The agreement must require the person to serve two years
3-1 as an eligible child-care worker in this state not later than the
3-2 third anniversary of the date the person enters into the agreement,
3-3 and must specify a number of additional years of service as an
3-4 eligible child-care worker in this state for which the person may
3-5 receive repayment assistance and the period within which the person
3-6 must complete those years of additional service. Only service as
3-7 an eligible child-care worker after the date the person enters into
3-8 the agreement may be used to satisfy the service requirement under
3-9 the agreement.
3-10 (c) The agreement must provide that the repayment assistance
3-11 the person receives before the person has served the first two full
3-12 years as an eligible child-care worker under the agreement and any
3-13 repayment assistance the person receives after the first two years
3-14 of service but before completing each additional full year of
3-15 service constitutes a loan until the person completes that two
3-16 years or additional year of service, as applicable, and satisfies
3-17 any other applicable conditions of the agreement. The agreement
3-18 must require the person to sign a promissory note acknowledging the
3-19 conditional nature of the repayment assistance received and
3-20 promising to repay the amount of that assistance received plus
3-21 applicable interest and reasonable collection costs if the person
3-22 does not satisfy the applicable conditions. The board shall
3-23 determine the terms of the promissory note. To the extent
3-24 practicable, the terms must be the same as those applicable to
3-25 state or federally guaranteed student loans made at the same time.
3-26 All amounts collected in repayment of a loan under this subsection,
3-27 including interest, but excluding collection costs paid by the
4-1 board to another person to collect or assist in collecting the
4-2 amount, shall be deposited to the credit of the trust fund
4-3 established by Section 61.878.
4-4 Sec. 61.876. AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE; LIMITATIONS.
4-5 (a) For each year that a qualified person serves as an eligible
4-6 child-care worker in this state under an agreement under Section
4-7 61.875, the person may receive loan repayment assistance in an
4-8 amount not to exceed 15 percent of the total amount of the person's
4-9 outstanding student loans, including scheduled interest payments
4-10 that would become due if the loan is not prepaid, when the person
4-11 enters into the agreement. The amount of repayment assistance paid
4-12 for a year may not exceed the actual amount of the loan payments
4-13 the person receiving the assistance is required to make for that
4-14 year.
4-15 (b) The board may enter into an agreement to provide loan
4-16 repayment assistance under Section 61.875 only to the extent money
4-17 in the trust fund established by Section 61.878 or money
4-18 appropriated to the trust fund for future deposit to the trust fund
4-19 will be sufficient to provide the repayment assistance as it
4-20 becomes payable. If that money will not be sufficient to provide
4-21 repayment assistance to each eligible applicant, the board shall
4-22 select persons to receive repayment assistance from the eligible
4-23 applicants according to financial need or on another basis the
4-24 board considers reasonable to further the purposes of this
4-25 subchapter.
4-26 Sec. 61.877. ADMINISTRATION; RULES. (a) The board shall
4-27 adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter.
5-1 (b) The board shall distribute a copy of the rules adopted
5-2 under this section and pertinent information in this subchapter to
5-3 each public or private institution of higher education in this
5-4 state that offers a degree program in early childhood development
5-5 or an equivalent degree.
5-6 Sec. 61.878. FUNDING. (a) The loan repayment assistance
5-7 program established by this subchapter is funded from the
5-8 child-care worker student loan assistance trust fund. The trust
5-9 fund is established outside the treasury and is administered by the
5-10 comptroller. Money in the trust fund may be spent without
5-11 appropriation and only to fund the program. Interest and income
5-12 from the assets of the trust fund shall be credited to and
5-13 deposited in the trust fund.
5-14 (b) The board may solicit and accept gifts, grants, and
5-15 donations from any public or private source for the purposes of
5-16 this chapter, and shall deposit money accepted under this
5-17 subsection to the credit of the trust fund.
5-18 (c) The legislature may appropriate money to the trust fund.
5-19 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1999 fall
5-20 semester.
5-21 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-27 passage, and it is so enacted.