GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

S	2 

SENATE BILL 453
Second Edition Engrossed 4/10/95

Short Title:  Teacher Scholarship Program Changes.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Lucas, Edwards, Allran, Parnell, Hobbs, Speed, Warren, Ballance, Albertson, Dannelly, Jordan, Gulley, Odom, Winner, Foxx, McDaniel, and McKoy.

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Referred to:  Education/Higher Education

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March 22, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO MAKE CHANGES IN THE PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS SCHOLARSHIP LOAN PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 115C-471 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C-471.  Fund administered by State Superintendent of Public Instruction; rules and regulations.
The Scholarship Loan Fund for Prospective Teachers shall be administered by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, under rules adopted by the State Board of Education and subject to the following directions and limitations:
(1)	Any resident of North Carolina who is interested in preparing to teach in the public schools of the State may apply in writing to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction for a regular scholarship loan in the amount of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per academic school year.  An applicant who has been employed for at least one year as a teacher assistant and who is currently employed as a teacher assistant may apply for a scholarship loan from funds earmarked for teacher assistants in the amount of not more than one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200) per academic school year.
(2)	All scholarship loans shall be evidenced by notes made payable to the State Board of Education that bear interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per annum from and after September 1 following fulfillment by a prospective teacher of the requirements for a certificate based upon the entry level degree; or in the case of persons already teaching in the public schools who obtain scholarship loans, the notes shall bear interest at the prescribed rate from and after September 1 of the school year beginning immediately after the use of the scholarship loans; or in the event any such scholarship is terminated under the provisions of subdivision (3) of this section, the notes shall bear interest from the date of termination.  A minor recipient who signs a note shall also obtain the endorsement thereon by a parent, if there be a living parent, unless the endorsement is waived by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The minor recipient shall be obligated upon the note as fully as if the recipient were of age and shall not be permitted to plead such minority as a defense in order to avoid the obligations undertaken upon the notes.
(3)	Each recipient of a scholarship loan under the provisions of this program shall be eligible for scholarship loans each year until the recipient has qualified for a certificate based upon the entry level degree, but the recipient shall not be so eligible for more than the minimum number of years normally required for qualifying for the certificate.  The permanent withdrawal of any recipient from college or failure of the recipient to do college work in a manner acceptable to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall immediately forfeit the recipient's right to retain the scholarship and subject the scholarship to termination by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in the Superintendent's discretion.  All terminated scholarships shall be regarded as vacant and subject to being awarded to other eligible persons.
(4)	Except under emergency conditions applicable to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, recipients of scholarship loans shall enter the public school system of North Carolina at the beginning of the next school term after qualifying for a certificate based upon the entry level degree or, in case of persons already teaching in the public schools, at the beginning of the next school term after the use of the loan.  All teaching service for which the recipient of any scholarship loan is obligated shall be rendered by August 31 of the seventh school year following graduation.
(5)	For each full school year taught in a North Carolina public school, the recipient of a scholarship loan shall receive credit upon the amount due by reason of the loan equal to the loan amount for a school year as provided in the note plus credit for the total interest accrued on that amount.  Also, the recipient of the loan shall receive credit upon the total amount due by reason of all four years of the loan if the recipient teaches for three consecutive years, or for three years interrupted only by an approved leave of absence, at a North Carolina public school that is in a low-performing school system or a school system on warning status at the time the recipient accepts employment with the local school administrative unit.  In lieu of teaching in the public school, a recipient may elect to pay in cash the full amount of scholarship loans received plus interest then due thereon or any part thereof that has not been canceled by the State Board of Education by reason of teaching service rendered.
(6)	If any recipient of a scholarship loan dies during the period of attendance at a college or university under a scholarship loan or before the scholarship loan is satisfied by payment or teaching service, any balance shall be automatically canceled.
		If any recipient of a scholarship loan fails to fulfill the recipient's obligations under subdivision (4) of this section, other than as provided above, the amount of the loan and accrued interest, if any, shall be due and payable from the time of failure to fulfill the recipient's obligations.
(7)	The State Superintendent of Public Instruction shall award scholarship loans with due consideration to factors and circumstances such as aptitude, purposefulness, scholarship, character, financial need, and geographic areas or subjects of instruction in which the demands for teachers are greatest.  Since the primary purpose of this Article is to attract worthy young people to the teaching profession, preference for scholarship loans, except for the scholarship loans from funds earmarked for teacher assistants, shall be given to high school seniors in the awarding of scholarships.  In awarding scholarship loans from funds earmarked for teacher assistants, preference shall be given to applicants who have already earned a baccalaureate degree or who have been formally admitted to an approved teacher education program in North Carolina."
Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.  The amendments to G.S. 115C-471(2) contained in Section 1 of this act apply only to scholarship loan agreements entered into after the effective date of this act.