261.112 Teacher shortage loan forgiveness program.

1. A teacher shortage loan forgiveness program is established to be administered by the commission. A teacher is eligible for the program if the teacher is practicing in a teacher shortage area as designated by the department of education pursuant to subsection 2. A person is ineligible for this program if the person receives a grant under section 261.110 or a forgivable loan under section 261.111. For purposes of this section, “teacher” means an individual holding a practitioner’s license issued under chapter 272, who is employed in a nonadministrative position in a designated shortage area by a school district or area education agency pursuant to a contract issued by a board of directors under section 279.13.

2. The director of the department of education shall annually designate the geographic or subject areas experiencing teacher shortages. The director shall periodically conduct a survey of school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and approved practitioner preparation programs to determine current shortage areas.

3. Each applicant for loan forgiveness shall, in accordance with the rules of the commission, do the following:

a. Complete and file an application for teacher shortage loan forgiveness. The individual shall be responsible for the prompt submission of any information required by the commission.

b. File a new application and submit information as required by the commission annually on the basis of which the applicant’s eligibility for the renewed loan forgiveness will be evaluated and determined.

c. Complete and return on a form approved by the commission an affidavit of practice verifying that the applicant is a teacher in an eligible teacher shortage area.

4. The annual amount of teacher shortage loan forgiveness shall not exceed the resident tuition rate established for institutions of higher learning governed by the state board of regents for the first year following the teacher’s graduation from an approved practitioner preparation program, or twenty percent of the teacher’s total federally guaranteed Stafford loan amount under the federal family education loan program or the federal direct loan program, including principal and interest, whichever amount is less. A teacher shall be eligible for the loan forgiveness program for not more than five years. However, practice by an eligible teacher in a teacher shortage area pursuant to subsection 1 must be completed within ten years following graduation from the approved practitioner preparation program.

5. A teacher shortage loan forgiveness repayment fund is created for deposit of moneys appropriated to or received by the commission for use under the program. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys deposited in the fund shall not revert to any fund of the state at the end of any fiscal year but shall remain in the loan forgiveness repayment fund and be continuously available for loan forgiveness under the program. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys deposited in the fund shall be credited to the fund.

6. The commission shall submit in a report to the general assembly by January 1, annually, the number of individuals who received loan forgiveness pursuant to this section, which shortage areas the teachers taught in, the amount paid to each program participant, and other information identified by the commission as indicators of outcomes from the program.

7. The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to administer this section.

2007 Acts, ch 214, §31; 2011 Acts, ch 36, §6; 2017 Acts, ch 150, §2 – 4

Referred to in §261.2, 261.110

2017 amendment to subsection 1 takes effect May 11, 2017, and does not apply to an individual receiving both loan forgiveness under this section and a grant under §261.110 on that date; 2017 Acts, ch 150, §3, 4