164.757 District teacher certification loan fund. - Kentucky Statutes

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Page 1 of 3 164.757 District teacher certification loan fund. (1) For purposes of this section unless the context requires otherwise: (a) "Critical shortage area" means an area in which there are insufficient numbers of fully certified staff in a particular subject, school, or geographic location; (b) "Emergency certified teacher" means an individual who has not completed certification requirements but has been awarded a temporary certificate for a
certification area in which no fully qualified teacher was available; (c) "Qualified teacher" means a teacher who holds the appropriate certification for a position unless the superintendent of the employing local school district has
documented evidence that the teacher is unsuitable for appointment; (d) "Qualified teaching service" means teaching for at least seventy (70) days each semester or the equivalent in the certification area for which an individual
received a forgivable loan in the Kentucky school district that recommended
the individual for a loan or in another Kentucky private or public school
district in the certification area for which an individual received a forgivable
loan if no position was available in the recommending school district at the
time when the individual completed his or her certification; (e) "Semester" means a period which usually makes up one-half (1/2) of a school year or one-half (1/2) of a postsecondary institution's academic year; and (f) "Summer term" means an academic period consisting of one (1) or more sessions of instruction between a spring and a fall semester at a postsecondary
education institution. (2) To increase the number of qualified teachers in local school districts and to reduce the number of emergency certified teachers, there is hereby created the district
teacher certification loan fund in the State Treasury. The loans shall be used to
provide forgivable loans to emergency certified personnel, fully certified teachers
who are willing to seek additional certification in hard-to-fill or critical shortage
areas, and paraprofessionals in local school districts to become fully certified
teachers and to continue service within the local district. (3) The fund shall be administered by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The authority shall promulgate administrative regulations to specify the
terms and conditions of the award, cancellation, and repayment of loans, including
but not limited to the maximum amount that may be loaned per term and the
maximum aggregate amount per applicant, the selection process, eligibility for
renewal, the specific administrative procedures for utilizing the funds, and the rate
of repayment. (4) To qualify for a forgivable loan, an applicant shall meet the following requirements: (a) Be employed by a specific local district as a certified teacher, an emergency full-time or part-time teacher, an emergency substitute teacher, or a
paraprofessional at the time he or she makes application for the loan; (b) Be recommended by the superintendent as an individual that he or she would recommend to be employed in a teaching position for which the applicant is
pursuing certification if the applicant fulfills all credentialing requirements; Page 2 of 3 (c) Be endorsed by the school-based decision making council of the school in which he or she serves to receive a loan for the purposes of obtaining teacher
certification in a specific certification area; except that the endorsement shall
not be construed as a commitment of securing a position in the particular
school in the future; (d) Be admitted and enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in a Kentucky private or public postsecondary institution that offers a teacher
certification program in the area for which he or she is seeking certification;
and (e) Be enrolled in a minimum of six (6) credit hours and not more than nine (9) credit hours during each semester of an academic term while employed
concurrently in the school district and in not less than six (6) credit hours
during the summer term. If a school district recommends an applicant for a
loan under provisions of this section and grants a leave of absence to the
employee to pursue certification, the employee shall be enrolled as a full-time
undergraduate or graduate student as defined by the institution in which he or
she is enrolled. (5) A participant in a local district alternative certification program as defined in KRS 161.048(2) may be eligible for a loan under provisions of this section to offset costs
associated with the program. The authority shall establish by administrative
regulation the specific requirements, notwithstanding requirements in subsection (4)
of this section. (6) A loan shall not be awarded or a promissory note cancellation shall not be granted to any person who is in default on any obligation to the authority under any program
administered pursuant to KRS 164.740 to 164.785 until financial obligations to the
authority are satisfied, except that ineligibility for this reason may be waived by the
authority for cause. (7) Recipients shall render one (1) semester of qualified teaching service for each semester or summer term for which a loan was received. Upon completion of each
semester of qualified teacher service, the authority shall cancel the appropriate
portion of the promissory notes. (8) If the recipient of a loan fails to complete the certification at a participating institution or fails to render qualified teaching service in any semester following
certification, unless the failure is temporarily waived for cause by the authority, the
recipient shall immediately become liable to the authority for repayment of the sum
of all outstanding promissory notes and accrued interest. Persons liable for
repayment of loans under this subsection shall be liable for interest accruing from
the dates on which the loans were disbursed. (9) Failure to meet repayment obligations imposed by this section shall be cause for the revocation of a person's certification, subject to the procedures set forth in KRS
161.120. (10) All moneys repaid to the authority under this section shall be added to the fund in this section. Any fund balance at the close of a fiscal year shall not lapse but shall Page 3 of 3 be carried forward to the next fiscal year and continuously appropriated for the
purposes specified in this section. (11) The authority may execute appropriate contracts and promissory notes for administering this section. (12) If available funds are insufficient for all requested loans for eligible applicants during any fiscal year, the authority shall give priority consideration to eligible
applicants who previously received loans. If funds are insufficient to make all
requested renewal loans to eligible applicants, the authority shall reduce all loans to
the extent necessary to provide loans to all qualified renewal applicants. If, after
awarding all eligible renewal applicants, funds are not depleted, priority shall be
given to loans for those applicants who are seeking certification in critical shortage
areas. Effective: April 2, 2002
History: Created 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 135, sec. 3, effective April 2, 2002.