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2000 SESSION

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SB 652 Teaching Scholarship Loan Program.

Introduced by: Henry L. Marsh III | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program. Modifies the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program to (i) allow support through gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds that may be obtained by the Department of Education; (ii) expand the Program to include scholarships to support critical teacher shortage disciplines, including special education as well as paraprofessional development; and (iii) to expand eligibility to include part-time students, sophomores, and graduate students. Board regulations will include in award criteria consideration of teacher shortages in rural and urban areas and in certain teaching endorsements. Scholarship recipients are to agree to teach in Virginia public schools in a critical teaching shortage discipline or, regardless of teaching discipline, in a school with a high concentration of students eligible for free or reduced lunch or in a rural or urban region of Virginia experiencing a teacher shortage.

The measure also renames the Diversity in Teaching Program as the Diversity in Teaching Initiative, a component of the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program. The Initiative will provide incentives to students of diverse backgrounds and will consist of five pilot projects distributed across Virginia. The Board is to develop criteria for Diversity Initiative scholarships in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General.

The bill also designates the present trust fund to cover the umbrella program (the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program) instead of solely for the Diversity in Teaching Initiative and requires Diversity in Teaching funds to be accounted for separately within the fund and distributed solely for scholarships awarded pursuant to the Diversity in Teaching Initiative. The Board of Education is required to promulgate emergency regulations, regardless of whether additional funds are appropriated for this program to implement the Program within 280 days of the enactment of this measure. This measure is identical to HB 1404, HB 1408, SB 630, and SB 737.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program. Changes the Diversity in Teaching Program to the Diversity in Teaching Initiative Awards and makes the award program a component of the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program. The Program focuses on at-risk and disadvantaged students, paraprofessionals, and students transferring from the community colleges and private two-year institutions to approved teacher education programs. Currently, the Program specifies only at-risk students.

The Board of Education is required to establish criteria in regulations for determining critical teacher shortage disciplines and high-poverty areas in the Commonwealth and to consult with the State Council of Higher Education in developing and implementing the Program. The criteria must reflect research findings concerning the characteristics of at-risk and disadvantaged students and the impact of socioeconomic deprivations on learning and the educational outcomes for such students. The bill provides that a paraprofessional is eligible to receive scholarships and awards to complete the undergraduate program to become a fully licensed teacher. Also, the bill sets criteria for the recipients of the awards. Students must repay the loans by teaching in a critical teacher shortage discipline; in a high-poverty area;; in a school division with high concentrations of at-risk or disadvantaged students; or at grade levels or in a geographical region of the Commonwealth where teachers who have been at-risk or disadvantaged students are under-represented.

The Board of Education is required to promulgate emergency regulations to implement the Program within 280 days of its enactment.