AB 817

Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers

various financial assistance programs to assist teachers. Those programs include

programs under which HEAB provides loans to college students and then forgives

a certain amount of those loans after the loan recipient has been employed as a

teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools, as a teacher of visually impaired pupils or

as an orientation and mobility instructor in this state, or as a teacher in a school

district in this state in which minority students constitute at least 29 percent of the

membership of the school district.

This bill creates a rural teacher grant program (grant program), to be

administered by HEAB, to encourage eligible teachers, as defined in the bill, to teach

in schools operated by eligible school districts, as defined in the bill. Under the bill,

1) an "eligible school district" is a school district whose membership in the school year

preceding the school year for which a grant is awarded under the grant program

divided by the school district's area in square miles is less than ten; and 2) an "eligible

teacher" is a teacher who teaches in a school operated by an eligible school district.

The bill requires HEAB to grant financial assistance to an eligible teacher who

is nominated by his or her school district for participation in the grant program and

who submits a claim for that financial assistance after each year in which the eligible

teacher teaches in such a school. The claim must 1) include the signature of the

eligible teacher and of a representative of the school district employing the eligible

teacher certifying that during the period for which financial assistance is claimed the

school district was an eligible school district and the eligible teacher taught in a

school operated by that eligible school district; 2) include a commitment by the

eligible teacher that he or she will use the financial assistance to repay student loans

incurred to defray the cost of tuition, fees, and expenses for programs of study

relating to the teaching profession; and 3) provide such other information as HEAB

may require by rule to verify the claimant's eligibility for financial assistance.

The maximum amount of financial assistance that an eligible teacher may

receive under the grant program is $1,000 for the first school year, $2,000 for the

second school year, $2,000 for the third school year, $2,000 for the fourth school year,

and $3,000 for the fifth school year in which the eligible teacher participates in the

grant program. An eligible teacher may receive financial assistance under the grant

program for no more than five school years. No more than four eligible teachers

employed by a given eligible school district may participate in the grant program in

a given school year.