SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 897
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS DOUGHERTY, KENNEDY AND BLAND.
Read 1st time January 9, 2002, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
3775S.01I
AN ACT
To amend chapter 161, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to urban teaching scholarships.
Section A. Chapter 161, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 161.416, to read as follows:
161.416. 1. There is hereby established the "Urban Flight Scholarship Program" to be administered by the department of elementary and secondary education. As used in this section, the term "eligible student" shall mean an individual who is enrolled in a Missouri metropolitan or urban school district with a high "at-risk student population", as shall be defined by the department of elementary and secondary education by rule. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2002, shall be invalid and void.
2. Subject to appropriation, the department of elementary and secondary education shall make available to eligible students up to one hundred, four-year urban flight scholarships in an amount that encompasses the total cost of eligible students' tuition and fees at a four-year college or university located in Missouri. Such scholarships shall be available to eligible students who enter and make a commitment to pursue a teacher education program approved by the department of elementary and secondary education and offered by a four-year college or university located in Missouri, or who after the completion of their baccalaureate degree enter teacher education and make a commitment to teach in a metropolitan or urban school district with a high at-risk student population, as defined by the department of elementary and secondary education. Every student receiving scholarships under the provisions of this section shall teach in an elementary or secondary public school in a metropolitan or urban school district with a high at-risk student population in this state for a period of two years for every one year they received a scholarship or the scholarship shall be treated as a loan to the student and interest at the rate of nine and one-half percent per year shall be charged upon the unpaid balance of the amount received from the date the student ceases to teach until the amount received is paid back to the state. In order to provide for the servicing of such loans, the department of elementary and secondary education may sell such loans to the higher education loan authority of the state of Missouri created under sections 173.350 to 173.445, RSMo. For each year that the student teaches, up to eight years, one-eighth of the amount which was received under this section shall be applied against the total amount received and shall not be subject to the repayment requirement of this section.
3. The department of elementary and secondary education shall have the power to and shall defer interest and principal payments under certain circumstances, which shall include, but need not be limited to, the enrollment in a graduate program or service in any branch of the armed forces of the United States.
4. If the number of applicants exceeds the number of scholarships or revenues available, the department of elementary and secondary education may consider the financial needs of the applicant.
5. The urban flight scholarship shall be funded in the following manner:
(1) Seventy-five percent of the urban flight scholarship shall be appropriated to the department of elementary and secondary education; and
(2) Twenty-five percent of the urban flight scholarship shall draw from the "Urban Flight Scholarship Donation Fund", which is hereby created in the state treasury to be administered by the department of elementary and secondary education. Any business firm, as defined in section 32.105, RSMo, may make a donation to the "Urban Flight Scholarship Donation Fund". A donating business firm shall receive a credit against the taxpayer's tax liability due equal to fifty percent of the amount of the donation for the tax year during which the donation was made.