H-2015              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 386

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State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By House Committee on Higher Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Ebersole, Hine, Holland, Peery, Ferguson, Wang, P. King, Sutherland, Cole, Pruitt, Taylor, Rayburn, Betrozoff, Unsoeld, R. King, Miller and Todd)

Read first time 2/25/87 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to academically outstanding teacher candidates; and adding new sections to chapter 28B.15 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 2 and 3 of this act.

          (1) "Institution of higher education" or "institution" means a college or university in the state of Washington which is a member institution of an accrediting association recognized as such by rule of the higher education coordinating board.

          (2) "Board" means the higher education coordinating board.

          (3) "Eligible student" means a student registered for at least twelve credit hours or the equivalent and demonstrates achievement of a 3.50 grade point average or the equivalent for each academic year, who is a resident student as defined by RCW 28B.15.012 through 28B.15.015,  and who has a declared major in a program leading to a degree in teacher education, or has completed a bachelor of arts or science degree with a grade point average of 3.50 or the equivalent at the completion of the degree and is enrolled in a program leading to a degree in teacher education.

          (4) "Public school" means an elementary school, middle school, junior high school, or high school within the public school system referred to in Article IX of the state Constitution.

          (5) "Forgiven" or "to forgive" means to collect service as a teacher at a public school in the state of Washington in lieu of monetary payment.

          (6) "Satisfied" means paid-in-full.

          (7) "Borrower" means an eligible student who has received a loan under section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     (1) The board may make long-term loans to eligible students at institutions of higher education from the funds appropriated to the board for this purpose.  The amount of any such loan shall not exceed the demonstrated financial need of the student or two thousand five hundred dollars for each academic year whichever is less, and the total amount of such loans to an eligible student shall not exceed ten thousand dollars.  The interest rates and terms of deferral of such loans shall be consistent with the terms of the federal guaranteed loan program.  The period for repaying the loan principal and interest shall be ten years with payments accruing quarterly commencing one year from the date the borrower graduated.  The entire principal and interest of each loan payment shall be forgiven for each payment period in which the borrower teaches in a public school in this state until the entire loan is satisfied or the borrower ceases to teach at a public school in this state.  Should the borrower cease to teach at a public school in this state before the time in which the principal and interest on the loan are satisfied, payments on the unsatisfied portion of the principal and interest on the loan shall begin the next payment period and continue until the remainder of the loan is paid.

          (2) The board is responsible for collection of loans made under subsection (1) of this section and shall exercise due diligence in such collection, maintaining all necessary records to insure that maximum repayments are made.  Collection and servicing of loans under subsection (1) of this section shall be pursued using the full extent of the law, including wage garnishment if necessary, and shall be performed by entities approved for such servicing by the Washington student loan guaranty association or its successor agency.  The board is responsible to forgive all or parts of such loans under the criteria established in subsection (1) of this section and shall maintain all necessary records of forgiven payments.

          (3) Receipts from the payment of principal or interest or any other subsidies to which the board as lender is entitled, which are paid by or on behalf of borrowers under subsection (1) of this section, shall be deposited with the higher education coordinating board and shall be used to cover the costs of making the loans under subsection (1) of this section, maintaining necessary records, and making collections under subsection (2) of this section.  The board shall maintain accurate records of these costs, and all receipts beyond those necessary to pay such costs shall be used to make loans to eligible students.

          (4) The board shall adopt necessary rules to implement this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     The board and institutions of higher education shall work cooperatively to implement section 2 of this act and to publicize this program to eligible students.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     After consulting with the higher education coordinating board, the governor may transfer the administration of this program to another agency with an appropriate educational mission.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     Sections 1 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 28B.15 RCW.