88R13286 MM-D
By: King of Hemphill H.B. No. 3140
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to eligibility requirements for the Teach for Texas Loan
Repayment Assistance Program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 56.352(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The purpose of this subchapter is to attract to the:
(1) teaching profession any persons who have expressed
interest in teaching and to support the employment of those persons
as classroom teachers by providing student loan repayment
assistance for service as a classroom teacher in the public schools
of this state; and
(2) school mental health profession any persons who
have expressed interest in providing mental health services to
students enrolled in public schools and to support the employment
of those persons as school mental health professionals by providing
student loan repayment assistance for service as a mental health
provider in the public schools of this state.
SECTION 2. Sections 56.353(a) and (c), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Teach for Texas repayment assistance is available only
to a person who applies for the assistance and who:
(1) is certified in a teaching field identified by the
commissioner of education as experiencing a critical shortage of
teachers in this state in the year in which the person receives the
assistance and has for at least one year taught full-time at, and is
currently teaching full-time at, the preschool, primary, or
secondary level in a public school in this state in that teaching
field; [or]
(2) is a certified educator who has for at least one
year taught full-time at, and is currently teaching full-time at,
the preschool, primary, or secondary level in a public school in
this state in a community identified by the commissioner of
education as experiencing a critical shortage of teachers in the
year in which the person receives the assistance; or
(3) is a mental health professional who:
(A) for at least one year has been employed
full-time at, and provided mental health services to students
enrolled in, a public school in this state; and
(B) is currently employed and providing mental
health services as described by Paragraph (A).
(c) If the money available for loan repayment assistance in
a period for which assistance is awarded is insufficient to provide
assistance to all eligible applicants described by Subsection (b),
the coordinating board shall establish priorities for awarding
repayment assistance to address only the most critical teacher
shortages described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2) [(a)].
SECTION 3. Section 56.355(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The coordinating board may determine the manner in which
Teach for Texas loan repayment assistance is to be paid. The
coordinating board may provide for the payment of a portion of the
repayment assistance in one or more installments before the person
completes a full year of service as a teacher or a school mental
health professional, as applicable, and for the payment of the
remainder of the repayment assistance for that year after the
completion of the full year of service.
SECTION 4. Section 56.3575(b), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The coordinating board shall distribute a copy of the
rules adopted under this section and pertinent information relating
to this subchapter to each public or private institution of higher
education in this state that offers:
(1) an educator certification program, including an
alternative educator certification program or another equivalent
program; or
(2) an educational program that prepares students for
a school mental health profession.
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act to Section
56.353, Education Code, applies only to a person who first
establishes eligibility for loan repayment assistance under
Subchapter O, Chapter 56, Education Code, as amended by this Act, on
the basis of an application submitted on or after September 1, 2023.
A person who first establishes eligibility on the basis of an
application submitted before September 1, 2023, is governed by the
law in effect on the date the application was submitted, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.