SB 841

This bill creates a rural teacher grant program, administered by the Higher

Educational Aids Board, to encourage teachers to teach in rural schools.

Under current law, 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 a high-demand area in a rural

school district or a school in the city of Milwaukee, as a teacher of visually impaired

pupils or as an orientation and mobility instructor in this state, or, for a minority

student, as a teacher in a high-demand area in a school in the city of Milwaukee.

This bill creates a grant program to encourage eligible teachers to teach in

schools operated by eligible school districts. 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.