House Bill hb0069c1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2002 CS/HB 69
By the Committee on Colleges & Universities and
Representatives Fiorentino, Greenstein, Sobel, Pickens,
Baxley, Kilmer, Betancourt, McGriff and Heyman
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to student financial
3 assistance; creating s. 240.4061, F.S.;
4 creating the Jumping on the Educational
5 Bandwagon Scholarship Loan Program to attract
6 students to the teaching profession; providing
7 the amount of annual scholarship loans;
8 requiring the Department of Education to
9 administer the program and establish
10 application and selection procedures; providing
11 eligibility requirements; requiring teaching
12 service in eligible schools as the method of
13 scholarship loan repayment; requiring the State
14 Board of Education to adopt rules relating to
15 repayment schedules and interest rates;
16 providing for deposit of appropriated and
17 repaid funds in the State Student Financial
18 Assistance Trust Fund; providing an effective
19 date.
20
21 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
22
23 Section 1. Section 240.4061, Florida Statutes, is
24 created to read:
25 240.4061 Jumping on the Educational Bandwagon
26 Scholarship Loan Program.--The Jumping on the Educational
27 Bandwagon (JEB) Scholarship Loan Program is created to attract
28 capable and promising students to the teaching profession. The
29 program shall provide scholarship loans for students who have
30 exhibited academic achievement, a history of service to the
31
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2002 CS/HB 69
184-318-02
1 school and community, and a desire to teach the children of
2 Florida.
3 (1) To the extent that funds are provided annually by
4 the Legislature in the General Appropriations Act, the program
5 shall provide annual scholarship loans of $4,000 to selected
6 students who enroll in an undergraduate program of study that
7 will enable the students to meet the teacher certification
8 requirements of s. 231.17 and who agree to teach in Florida 1
9 year for each year a scholarship loan is received.
10 (2) The Department of Education shall administer the
11 program. The department shall establish application and
12 selection procedures to determine up to 50 initial scholarship
13 loan recipients each year. Application and selection criteria
14 shall be developed and distributed annually by the department
15 to all school districts and made available on the department's
16 website. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a
17 selection committee chaired by the Teacher of the Year, which
18 shall include representatives from the various sectors of the
19 education community. If the Teacher of the Year is unable to
20 serve, the commissioner may appoint an alternate chair.
21 (3) The application and selection procedures developed
22 by the department must require, at a minimum, that a student:
23 (a) Submit an application for the scholarship loan by
24 a deadline established by the department. The application must
25 include at least three sealed letters of recommendation and an
26 essay by the applicant describing why he or she wants to
27 teach.
28 (b) Meet the initial eligibility criteria for a
29 Florida Merit Scholars award pursuant to ss. 240.40202 and
30 240.40206.
31
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2002 CS/HB 69
184-318-02
1 (c) Enroll in a public postsecondary education
2 institution or an independent postsecondary education
3 institution that is eligible to participate in the William L.
4 Boyd, IV, Florida Resident Access Grant Program.
5 (d) Complete a program of community service work that
6 includes a minimum of 100 hours of community service work.
7 (e) Declare the intent to complete 1 year of teaching
8 service in a publicly funded school or an eligible nonpublic
9 school for each year for which a scholarship loan is received
10 pursuant to this section. For purposes of this section, the
11 term "publicly funded school" means a school that receives at
12 least 75 percent of its operating costs from governmental
13 agencies, including schools that operate an educational
14 program under contract with a public school district or the
15 Department of Education. The term "eligible nonpublic school"
16 means a school that participates in the annual nonpublic
17 school survey pursuant to s. 229.808, demonstrates fiscal
18 soundness by being in operation for more than 1 year or by
19 providing the department with a statement by a certified
20 public accountant that the school has sufficient capital or
21 credit to operate, complies with the antidiscrimination
22 provisions of 42 U.S.C. s. 2000d, meets state and local health
23 and safety laws and codes, and is subject to the instruction,
24 curriculum, and attendance criteria adopted by an appropriate
25 nonpublic school accrediting body. The Department of Education
26 shall identify the nonpublic school accrediting bodies that
27 satisfy this requirement.
28 (f) Declare the intent to begin the teaching service
29 required by paragraph (e) within 1 year after receipt of a
30 baccalaureate degree.
31
3
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2002 CS/HB 69
184-318-02
1 (4) To receive a renewal scholarship loan, a student
2 must meet the renewal requirements for a Florida Merit
3 Scholars award pursuant to ss. 240.40203 and 240.40206. A
4 student is eligible to receive a scholarship loan for up to 4
5 years.
6 (5) The State Board of Education shall adopt by rule,
7 pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54, repayment schedules and
8 applicable interest rates pursuant to ss. 240.451 and 240.465.
9 A scholarship loan must be repaid within 10 years after
10 completion of a program of study. Credit for repayment of a
11 scholarship loan shall be as follows:
12 (a) For each year a scholarship loan recipient teaches
13 in a publicly funded school or an eligible nonpublic school,
14 one-fourth of the scholarship loan is forgiven. The
15 scholarship loan is considered repaid after 4 years of
16 teaching. Each recipient has 5 years following graduation to
17 satisfy the 4-year teaching requirement. If a recipient does
18 not complete the teaching requirement within the 5-year
19 period, the recipient is obligated to repay the appropriate
20 portion of the scholarship loan with interest.
21 (b) Any recipient who does not complete a program of
22 study that enables the student to comply with the
23 certification requirements of s. 231.17 or who does not become
24 certified by the department shall repay to the department the
25 entire amount of the scholarship loan plus interest accruing
26 from the date of the initial award.
27 (c) Any recipient who fails to begin teaching in a
28 publicly funded school or an eligible nonpublic school within
29 1 year after receipt of a baccalaureate degree shall repay to
30 the department the entire amount of the scholarship loan plus
31 interest accruing from the date of the initial award.
4
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida House of Representatives - 2002 CS/HB 69
184-318-02
1 (d) A recipient who is unable to fulfill the teaching
2 requirement due to his or her death or permanent disability is
3 not required to repay the funds awarded pursuant to this
4 section.
5 (6) Funds appropriated specifically for the JEB
6 Scholarship Loan Program and funds repaid pursuant to
7 subsection (5) shall be deposited in the State Student
8 Financial Assistance Trust Fund.
9 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
5
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.