INTRODUCED
BY M. Sweeney, L. Jones
By Request of the ****
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT REVISING LAWS RELATED TO THE QUALITY EDUCATOR LOAN ASSISTANCE PROGRAM; REVISING THE TIMING OF THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR THE PROGRAM; AND AMENDING SECTION 20-4-503, MCA."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Section 20-4-503, MCA, is amended to read:
"20-4-503. Critical quality educator shortage areas -- impacted schools. (1) The board of public education, in consultation with the office of public instruction, shall:
(a) maintain and make publicly available a current list of impacted schools; and
(b) based on reporting by impacted schools or school districts in which impacted schools are located, identify within each impacted school, critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a). The board of public education shall also establish a process for impacted schools to report and qualify, no later than 5 days after submission of a written report on a form developed by the board, a current vacancy for a critical quality educator shortage area under the criteria set forth in 20-4-502(1)(b). Critical quality educator shortage areas qualifying under 20-4-502(1)(b) are eligible for loan repayment assistance independent of the report under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The
board of public education shall publish by December February 1 an
annual report listing the critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a)
in each impacted school. The report must apply to the school year that begins
July 1 following the publication of the report in order to assist recruitment
by impacted schools. For the school
year beginning July 1, 2019, eligibility for the program based on the criteria
under 20-4-502(1)(a) must be governed by the report adopted by
the board of public education by December 1, 2019.
(3) A quality educator working at an impacted school in a critical quality educator shortage area is eligible for repayment of all or part of the quality educator's outstanding educational loans existing at the time of application in accordance with the eligibility and award criteria established under this part. If a quality educator is eligible for loan assistance and remains employed in the same impacted school or another impacted school within the same school district and in the same critical quality educator shortage area for which the quality educator was originally eligible, the quality educator remains eligible for up to 3 years of state-funded loan repayment assistance and an additional 1 year of loan repayment assistance funded by the impacted school or the district under which the impacted school is operated pursuant to 20-4-504(2). Both state-funded and locally funded loan repayment assistance under this section is are exempt from taxation as specified in 15-30-2110(14)."