SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 5937

BYSenators Rinehart, Gaspard, Bauer, Tanner and Patterson

Establishing a loan program for students intending to be public school teachers and for public school teachers getting additional endorsements.

Senate Committee on Education

Majority Report:  Do pass.

      Signed by Senators Gaspard, Chairman; Bauer, Vice Chairman; Rinehart, Vice Chairman; Bailey, Bender, Patterson, Saling, Smitherman, Warnke.

Senate Hearing Date(s):March 3, 1987

Senate Staff:Judy McNickle (786-7423)

                  March 18, 1987

AS PASSED SENATE, MARCH 17, 1987

BACKGROUND:

In 1983 the Legislature created the Washington State Teacher Incentive Loan Program for Mathematics and Science to encourage more persons to become math and science teachers in the public schools.  This long-term loan program is directed toward students with declared majors leading to degrees in teacher education in science or math who are attending accredited Washington colleges and universities, and who are registered for at least ten credit hours, maintain a 3.0 grade point average, are Washington residents, and meet financial need criteria.  Loans are limited to each student's demonstrated financial need or $2,500 per year, whichever is less.  No student may borrow more than a total of $10,000.

The first loan payments are due nine months after the borrower's graduation and students are given ten years to complete repayment.  But, for each year a borrower teaches math or science in a public middle school, junior high or high school, 10 percent of the loan will be forgiven.  If the borrower ceases to teach either of those subjects in a public school before the loan is fully paid, payments on the unpaid portion of the loan begin the next payment period.  The loan program, which expires in 1989, was assigned to the Council for Postsecondary Education and later transferred to the Higher Education Coordinating (HEC) Board, which administers the program and is responsible for collecting and servicing loans and determining loan forgiveness. Since the program was created, approximately 150 students have received loans averaging $1,800 per year.

Recent national studies have reported that the supply of teachers and the demand for them have begun to turn ever more sharply in opposite directions.  Elementary school enrollments are projected to increase significantly in the next few years just as the college age population, from which new teachers are traditionally drawn, is projected to decline.  To encourage more persons to consider teaching careers in this state, it has been suggested that the math/science loan program be used as a model from which to create an expanded loan program to assist potential public school teachers regardless of their academic discipline.

SUMMARY:

The Higher Education Coordinating (HEC) Board is authorized to create a long-term loan program for students who have declared their intent to complete an approved preparation program leading to initial teacher certification or required for earning an additional endorsement, or who are college or university graduates who seek an additional teaching endorsement or initial teacher certification.  These students must also be enrolled in an accredited Washington college or university, registered for at least ten credit hours, maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average, be Washington residents and meet financial need criteria.

Loans will be limited to the demonstrated financial need of the student or to $2,500 per year, whichever is less, and no one student may borrow more than a total of $10,000.  The first loan payments are due nine months from the date the borrower completes the course of study.  But, for each year a borrower teaches in a Washington public school, 10 percent of the loan will be forgiven.  If the borrower ceases to teach in a Washington public school before the loan is fully paid, payments on the satisfied portion of the loan will begin the next payment period.

The loan program, which continues until 1994, is assigned to the HEC Board, which is responsible for collecting and servicing loans and for determining loan forgiveness.

Fiscal Note:      requested

Senate Committee - Testified: Judy Hartman, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction