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Public Act 096-0411
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| HB3999 Enrolled |
LRB096 11768 NHT 22547 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Higher Education Student Assistance Act is |
amended by changing Section 52 as follows:
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(110 ILCS 947/52)
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Sec. 52. Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program Illinois |
Future Teacher Corps Program.
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(a) In order to encourage academically talented Illinois |
students,
especially minority students, to pursue teaching |
careers, especially in
teacher shortage
disciplines
(which |
shall be defined to include early childhood education) or at
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hard-to-staff schools (as defined by the Commission in |
consultation with the
State Board of Education), to provide |
those students with the crucial mentoring, guidance, and |
in-service support that will significantly increase the |
likelihood that they will complete their full teaching |
commitments and elect to continue teaching in targeted |
disciplines and hard-to-staff schools, and to ensure that |
students in this State will continue to have access to a pool |
of highly-qualified teachers, the Commission shall combine the |
best practices and methods and programmatic functions of the |
Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program and the Golden Apple |
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Foundation for Excellence in Teaching's Golden Apple Scholars |
of Illinois Program into one program. The consolidated program |
shall be known as the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program |
and shall be managed by the Golden Apple Foundation for |
Excellence in Teaching. |
(1) This consolidated program shall be fully |
operational before July 1, 2012. The existing programs, the |
Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program and the Golden Apple |
Scholars Program, shall continue to exist and be governed |
as they have under this Section before the effective date |
of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly and any |
associated administrative rules, but shall also begin a |
transition period commencing on the first day of the 2010 |
fiscal year and ending on the last day of the 2013 fiscal |
year. |
(2) During the transition period, the Commission |
shall, in consultation with the Golden Apple Foundation, |
establish rules governing the transition period and |
related fund transfers and to facilitate coordination and |
implementation of the consolidated program. Eligible |
students in this State may continue to apply for Illinois |
Future Teacher Corps scholarships under the current rules |
governing such applications during the transition period. |
Fiscal Year 2012 shall be the last year that such |
scholarships are available. |
(3) The Commission shall, by March 30, 2010, develop an |
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estimate of General Revenue Funds that it expects will |
remain unexpended at the end of FY 2010 from the FY 2010 |
appropriation for the Illinois Future Teacher Corps. No |
later than April 15, 2010, the Commission shall cause to be |
transferred funds comprising 85% of this estimated amount |
to the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching. |
The Commission shall subsequently transfer funding from |
the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Program to the Golden |
Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching on the |
following schedule and in the following amounts:
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(A) FY 2011: an amount equal to 58% of the total |
combined appropriation for the Golden Apple Foundation |
for Excellence in Teaching and the Illinois Future |
Teacher Corps Program; |
(B) FY 2012: an amount equal to 80% of the combined |
total appropriation for the Golden Apple Foundation |
for Excellence in Teaching and the Illinois Future |
Teacher Corps Program; |
(C) FY 2013: the entire appropriation shall be |
designated for the Golden Apple Foundation for |
Excellence in Teaching. |
(4) Following the consolidation of the 2 programs, at |
least 30% of Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program |
scholarships available each year shall be awarded to |
students residing in counties having a population of less |
than 500,000. |
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(5) Following the consolidation of the 2 programs, the |
Auditor General shall prepare an annual audit of the |
operations and finances of the Golden Apple Scholars of |
Illinois Program. This audit shall be provided to the |
Governor and the General Assembly. |
(a-5) The ,
the Commission shall, each year until Fiscal |
Year 2011, receive and consider applications
for scholarship |
assistance under this Section. An applicant is eligible for an |
Illinois Future Teacher Corps a
scholarship under this Section |
when the Commission finds that the applicant is:
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(1) a United States citizen or eligible noncitizen;
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(2) a resident of Illinois;
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(3) a high school graduate or a person who has received |
a General
Educational Development Certificate;
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(4) enrolled or accepted for enrollment at or above the |
junior level,
on at least a half-time basis, at an Illinois |
institution of higher learning;
and
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(5) pursuing a postsecondary course of study leading to |
initial
certification or pursuing additional
course
work
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needed to gain State Board of Education approval to teach, |
including
alternative teacher certification.
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(b) Recipients shall be selected from among applicants |
qualified pursuant to
subsection (a) based on a combination of |
the following criteria as set forth by
the Commission until |
Fiscal Year 2011: (1) academic excellence; (2) status as a |
minority student as
defined in Section 50; and (3) financial |
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need. Preference may be given to
previous recipients of |
assistance under this Section, provided they continue to
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maintain eligibility and maintain satisfactory academic |
progress as determined
by the institution of higher learning at |
which they enroll.
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In each year until the consolidation of the 2 programs |
under subsection (a) of this Section has been completed, to |
support mentoring, guidance, and in-service support for |
teaching candidates in order to increase the likelihood that |
they will complete their full teaching commitments and elect to |
continue teaching in targeted disciplines and hard-to-staff |
schools, a minimum of 200 awards shall be allocated to |
participants in the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program. |
(c) Each scholarship awarded under this Section shall be in |
an amount
sufficient to pay the tuition and fees and room and |
board costs of the Illinois
institution of higher learning at |
which the recipient is enrolled, up to
an annual maximum of |
$5,000; except that in the case of a
recipient who
does not
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reside
on-campus at the institution of higher learning at which |
he or she is enrolled,
the amount of the scholarship shall be |
sufficient to pay tuition and fee
expenses and a commuter |
allowance, up to an annual maximum of $5,000.
For recipients |
who agree to teach in a teacher shortage discipline or at a
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hard-to-staff school under subsection (i) of this Section, the |
Commission
may, by rule and subject to appropriation, increase |
the annual
maximum amount to $10,000. If a recipient agrees to |
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teach in both a
teacher shortage discipline and at a |
hard-to-staff school under
subsection (i) of this Section, the |
Commission may increase the amount of the
scholarship awarded
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by up to an additional $5,000.
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(d) The total amount of scholarship assistance awarded by |
the Commission
under this Section to an individual in any given |
fiscal year, when added to
other financial assistance awarded |
to that individual for that year, shall not
exceed the cost of |
attendance at the institution of higher learning at which
the |
student is enrolled.
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(e) A recipient may receive up to 4 semesters or 6
quarters |
of scholarship
assistance under this Section.
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(f) All applications for scholarship assistance to be |
awarded under this
Section shall be made to the Commission in a |
form as set forth by the
Commission. The form of application |
and the information required to be set
forth therein shall be |
determined by the Commission, and the Commission shall
require |
eligible applicants to submit with their applications such |
supporting
documents as the Commission deems necessary. |
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, following the |
completion of the transition of funding of the Illinois Future |
Teacher Corps to the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in |
Teaching, all applications for scholarship assistance under |
this Section shall be in a form determined by the Golden Apple |
Foundation for Excellence in Teaching.
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(g) Subject to a separate appropriation made for such |
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purposes, payment of
any
scholarship awarded under this Section |
shall be determined by the Commission.
There shall be a |
separate appropriation made for scholarships awarded
to |
recipients who agree to teach in a teacher shortage discipline |
or at a
hard-to-staff school under subsection (i) of this |
Section.
The Commission may use for scholarship assistance |
under this Section
(i) all funds appropriated for scholarships |
under this Section that were
formerly known as ITEACH Teacher |
Shortage Scholarships and (ii) all
funds appropriated for |
scholarships under Section 65.65 of this Act
(repealed by this |
amendatory Act of the 93rd General Assembly), formerly
known as |
Illinois Future Teacher Corps Scholarships.
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All scholarship funds distributed in accordance with this |
Section shall be
paid
to the institution on behalf of the |
recipients. Scholarship funds are
applicable toward 2 |
semesters or 3 quarters of enrollment within an academic
year.
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(h) The Commission shall administer the
scholarship |
program established by this Section and shall make all |
necessary
and
proper rules not inconsistent with this Section |
for its effective
implementation.
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(i) Prior to receiving scholarship assistance for any |
academic year, each
recipient of a scholarship awarded under |
this
Section shall be required by the Commission to sign an |
agreement under which
the
recipient pledges that, within the |
one-year period following the
termination
of the academic |
program for which the recipient was awarded a scholarship, the
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recipient: (i) shall begin teaching for a period of not
less |
than 5 years, (ii) shall fulfill this teaching obligation at a |
nonprofit
Illinois public,
private, or parochial
preschool or |
an Illinois public elementary or secondary school, and (iii)
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shall, upon request of
the
Commission, provide the Commission |
with evidence that he or she is fulfilling
or has fulfilled the |
terms of the teaching agreement provided for in this
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subsection.
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(j) If a recipient of a scholarship awarded under this |
Section fails to
fulfill the teaching obligation set forth in |
subsection (i) of this Section,
the Commission shall require |
the recipient to repay the amount of the
scholarships received, |
prorated according to the fraction of the teaching
obligation |
not completed, plus interest at a rate of 5% and if applicable, |
reasonable
collection fees. The Commission is authorized to |
establish rules relating to
its collection activities for |
repayment
of scholarships under this Section.
Payments |
received by the Commission under this subsection (j)
shall be |
remitted to the State Comptroller for deposit into
the General |
Revenue Fund, except that that portion of a
recipient's |
repayment that equals the amount in expenses that
the |
Commission has reasonably incurred in attempting
collection |
from that recipient shall be remitted to the State
Comptroller |
for deposit into the Commission's Accounts
Receivable Fund. |
(k) A recipient of a scholarship awarded by the Commission |
under this
Section shall not be in violation of the agreement |
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entered into pursuant to
subsection (i) if the recipient (i) |
enrolls on a full-time basis as a graduate
student in a course |
of study related to the field of teaching at an institution
of |
higher learning; (ii) is serving as a member of the armed |
services of the
United States; (iii) is temporarily totally |
disabled, as established by sworn
affidavit of a qualified |
physician; (iv) is seeking and unable to find
full-time |
employment as a teacher at a school that satisfies the criteria |
set
forth
in subsection (i) and is able to provide evidence of |
that fact; (v) is taking additional courses, on at least a |
half-time basis, needed to obtain certification as a teacher in |
Illinois; or (vi) is fulfilling teaching requirements |
associated with other programs administered by the Commission |
and cannot concurrently fulfill them under this Section in a |
period of time equal to the length of the teaching obligation. |
Any such
extension of the period during which the teaching |
requirement must be fulfilled
shall be subject to limitations |
of duration as established by the Commission.
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(Source: P.A. 94-133, eff. 7-7-05; 95-939, eff. 1-1-09.)
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Section 10. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by |
changing Section 3-648 as follows:
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(625 ILCS 5/3-648)
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Sec. 3-648. Education license plates.
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(a) The Secretary, upon receipt of an application made in |
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the form
prescribed by the Secretary, may issue special |
registration plates designated
as Education license plates. |
The special plates issued under this Section
shall be affixed |
only to passenger vehicles of the first division and motor
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vehicles of the second division weighing not more than 8,000 |
pounds. Plates
issued under this Section shall expire according |
to the multi-year procedure
established by Section 3-414.1 of |
this Code.
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(b) The design and color of the plates
shall be determined |
by a contest that every elementary school pupil in the
State of |
Illinois is eligible to enter. The designs submitted for the |
contest
shall be judged on September 30, 2002, and the winning |
design shall be selected
by a committee
composed of the |
Secretary, the Director of State Police, 2 members of the
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Senate, one member chosen by the President of the Senate and |
one member chosen
by the
Senate Minority Leader, and 2 members |
of the House of Representatives, one
member chosen by the |
Speaker of the House and one member chosen by the House
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Minority
Leader.
The
Secretary may allow the plates to be |
issued as vanity or personalized plates
under Section 3-405.1 |
of the Code. The Secretary shall prescribe stickers or
decals |
as provided under Section 3-412 of this Code.
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(c) An applicant for the special plate shall be charged a |
$40 fee for
original issuance,
in addition to the appropriate |
registration fee.
Of this $40 additional original issuance fee, |
$15 shall be deposited into the
Secretary of State Special
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License Plate Fund, to be used by the Secretary to help defray |
the
administrative processing costs, and
$25 shall be deposited |
into the Illinois Future Teacher Corps
Scholarship Fund.
For |
each registration renewal period, a $40 fee, in addition to the
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appropriate registration fee, shall be charged.
Of this $40 |
additional renewal fee, $2 shall be deposited into the |
Secretary of
State Special License
Plate Fund and $38 shall be |
deposited into the Illinois Future Teacher
Corps
Scholarship |
Fund. Each
fiscal year, once deposits from the additional |
original issuance and renewal
fees into the Secretary of State |
Special License Plate Fund have reached
$500,000, all the |
amounts received for the additional fees for the balance of
the |
fiscal year shall be
deposited into the Illinois Future Teacher |
Corps Scholarship Fund.
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(d) The Illinois Future Teacher Corps Scholarship Fund
is |
created as a special fund in the State treasury. Ninety-five
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percent of the
moneys in the Illinois Future Teacher Corps |
Scholarship Fund
shall be appropriated to the Illinois Student |
Assistance
Commission for scholarships under Section 52 of the |
Higher
Education Student Assistance Act, and 5% of the
moneys |
in the Illinois Future Teacher Corps Scholarship Fund
shall be |
appropriated to the State Board of Education for grants to the
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Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching, a |
recognized charitable
organization that
meets the requirements |
of Title 26, Section 501(c)(3) of the United States
Code. |
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this subsection (d), |