Report Title:
Hawaii Education Loan Program; Special Fund
Description:
Establishes the Hawaii education loan program and special fund for the purpose of providing financial support to students who are enrolled in a program that culminates in the awarding of a teaching license, and who agree to teach in the Hawaii public school system. Appropriates funds. (HB1667 HD1)
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1667 |
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TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO STUDENT LOANS FOR TEACHERS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, a national organization with nineteen partner states, including Hawaii, is focused on improving student learning by ensuring that there is a caring, competent, and qualified teacher in every classroom.
Over the past year, with the lieutenant governor as its chairperson, the Hawaii Policy Group of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, which comprises a representative group of educational stakeholders, has collaborated on research-based recommendations to improve teaching in Hawaii. The recommendations encompass five key areas:
(1) Establishing and implementing standards for students and teachers;
(2) Teacher preparation and professional development;
(3) Teacher recruitment and placing qualified teachers in all classrooms;
(4) Encouraging and rewarding teaching knowledge and skill; and
(5) Creating schools that are organized for student and teacher success.
Aside from home and societal factors, teacher quality is, without a question, the most influential factor in student achievement. Standards-based reform has a greater chance of success when teacher quality is addressed and given our highest priority. We must equip our teachers with the resources and skills necessary to ensure that all students attain their full potential.
The purpose of this Act is to create the Hawaii educator loan program and special fund as a tool to recruit college students to become educators and to ensure that these teacher candidates teach in Hawaii's public schools.
SECTION 2. Chapter 304, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§304- Hawaii educator loan program; special fund. (a) There is created the Hawaii educator loan program, to be administered by the University of Hawaii, for the purpose of providing financial support to students who complete a department of education-approved teacher education program and who agree to teach in the Hawaii public school system. Eligibility for loans from the loan fund shall be limited to students who have been residents of the State for at least one year and are enrolled in a program that culminates in the awarding of a license to teach in the State of Hawaii. The amount to be loaned to a student shall be determined by the board of regents based on the need for financial aid and proof of acceptance into a teacher education program at the University of Hawaii that has been approved by the department of education. The maximum amount of loans that a student may receive under this program shall be an amount equal to the sum of tuition payments, and the costs of textbooks and other instructional materials necessary to complete a department of education-approved teacher education program.
(b) There is created in the state treasury, the Hawaii educator loan program special fund for the purpose of providing loans pursuant to subsection (a). All loans made under this section shall bear interest at five per cent simple interest. Repayment of principal and interest charges shall commence one year after graduation or three months after a borrower ceases to be enrolled in a department of education-approved teacher education program and shall be paid in periodic installments over a ten-year period. The University of Hawaii may charge late fees and all other reasonable costs for the collection of delinquent loans. All interest and payments received on account of principal shall be credited to the special fund.
(c) Upon a showing of proof that the individual has completed a department of education-approved teacher education program and is employed as a teacher in the Hawaii public school system, repayment of the loan and interest shall be waived as follows:
(1) For every year that a loan recipient teaches in a Hawaii public school, one-tenth of the loan shall be forgiven; and
(2) For every year that a loan recipient teaches in a Hawaii public school in a hard-to-fill position, including special education, regular education shortage categories, or Title 1 schools, an additional one-tenth of the loan shall be forgiven.
Liability for repayment of a loan shall be canceled upon the death or permanent total disability of the borrower.
(d) In accordance with chapter 103D, the University of Hawaii may enter into written contracts with collection agencies for the purpose of collecting delinquent student loans. All payments collected, exclusive of a collection agency's commissions, shall revert, and be credited, to the loan fund. A collection agency that enters into a written contract with the University of Hawaii for the collection of delinquent student loans pursuant to this section may collect a commission from the debtor in accordance with the terms of, and up to the amounts authorized in, the written contract."
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002 to be deposited into the Hawaii educator loan program special fund for the offering of student loans under the Hawaii educator loan program.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.