261.112 - TEACHER SHORTAGE LOAN FORGIVENESS PROGRAM.
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.
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
consecutive years.
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. Section History: Recent Form
2007 Acts, ch 214, §31
Referred to in § 261.2