Budget Amendment ID: FY2022-S3-244

EDU 244

Debt-free Future Educator Fund

Messrs. Eldridge, Brady, Lesser, Hinds, O'Connor, Gomez, Feeney, Crighton and Pacheco moved that the proposed new text be amended by adding the following section:-

“SECTION XX. Section 4C. Chapter 15A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 19E the following section:-

Section 19F. The board of higher education is hereby authorized and directed to establish a student loan repayment program to be known as the Debt-free Future Educator Fund, for the purpose of encouraging graduates of the Commonwealth’s public institutions of higher education to work as educators in a school district, as defined in section 2 of chapter 70 of the General Laws, by providing for the repayment of their qualified education loans. The term qualified education loan shall mean any indebtedness including interest on such indebtedness incurred to pay tuition or other direct expenses incurred in connection with the pursuit of an undergraduate degree by an applicant but shall not include loans made by any person related to the applicant. The program shall be administered by the board of higher education in consultation with the trustees of the university of Massachusetts, the board of governors of Quincy College and the commissioner of the department of elementary and secondary education.

The board of higher education shall promulgate guidelines, for the effective implementation of the program, which shall include, but not be limited to, the following provisions:

Eligibility for the program shall be limited to educators who have graduated from public institutions of higher education including Quincy College after January first, two thousand and twenty one;

Subject to rules established by the board the commonwealth shall repay a participating educator’s qualified education student loans in full over a period of five years.

The program shall be consistent with chapter 132 of the acts of 2019 goal of diversifying the educator workforce.

If funds appropriated for this program are insufficient to cover costs of eligible applicants, priority shall be given to educators working in school districts with the highest shares of students who are designated as low income, as defined in Chapter 132 of the Acts of 2019.

There is hereby established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund, to be administered by the board of higher education, which shall be known as the Debt-free Future Educator Fund. The fund shall be credited with: (i)  appropriations, bond proceeds or other money authorized or transferred by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund; (ii) funds from public and private sources, including, but not limited to gifts, grants and donations; (iii) any interest earned on such money. Amounts credited to the Debt-free Future Educator Fund shall be used, without further appropriation, by the board of higher education, to carry out the public educators program established in this section; and (iv) revenues deposited in the fund that are unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund and shall be available for expenditure in the following fiscal year. No expenditure made from the fund shall cause the fund to become deficient at any point.”

; and further moved that the proposed new text be amended in section 2 by inserting after item 7070-0066 the following item:- “7070-0067 Debt-free Future Educator Fund established in Section 4C of this act..................................................$6,000,000”.