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Public Act 100-0235
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| SB1739 Enrolled | LRB100 09252 NHT 19408 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 50 as follows:
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(110 ILCS 947/50)
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Sec. 50. Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship |
program.
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(a) As used in this Section:
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"Eligible applicant" means a minority student who has |
graduated
from high school or has received a high school |
equivalency certificate
and has
maintained a cumulative |
grade point average of
no
less than 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and |
who by reason thereof is entitled to
apply for scholarships |
to be awarded under this Section.
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"Minority student" means a student who is any of the |
following: |
(1) American Indian or Alaska Native (a person |
having origins in any of the original peoples of North |
and South America, including Central America, and who |
maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment). |
(2) Asian (a person having origins in any of the |
original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or |
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the Indian subcontinent, including, but not limited |
to, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, |
Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and |
Vietnam). |
(3) Black or African American (a person having |
origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa). |
Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in |
addition to "Black or African American". |
(4) Hispanic or Latino (a person of Cuban, Mexican, |
Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other |
Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race). |
(5) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (a |
person having origins in any of the original peoples of |
Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands).
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"Qualified student" means a person (i) who is a |
resident of this State
and a citizen or permanent resident |
of the United States; (ii) who is a
minority student, as |
defined in this Section; (iii) who, as an eligible
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applicant, has made a timely application for a minority |
teaching
scholarship under this Section; (iv) who is |
enrolled on at least a
half-time basis at a
qualified |
Illinois institution of
higher learning; (v) who is |
enrolled in a course of study leading to
teacher licensure |
certification, including alternative teacher licensure, |
or, if the student is already licensed to teach, in a |
course of study leading to an additional teaching |
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endorsement or a master's degree in an academic field in |
which he or she is teaching or plans to teach |
certification; (vi)
who maintains a grade point average of |
no
less than 2.5 on a 4.0 scale;
and (vii) who continues to |
advance satisfactorily toward the attainment
of a degree.
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(b) In order to encourage academically talented Illinois |
minority
students to pursue teaching careers at the preschool |
or elementary or
secondary
school
level, each qualified student |
shall be awarded a minority teacher
scholarship to any |
qualified Illinois institution of higher learning.
However, |
preference may be given to qualified applicants enrolled at or |
above
the
junior level.
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(c) Each minority teacher scholarship awarded under this |
Section shall
be in an amount sufficient to pay the tuition and |
fees and room and board
costs of the qualified 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 reside on-campus at the |
institution 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.
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(d) The total amount of minority teacher 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
at |
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which the student is enrolled. If the amount of minority |
teacher
scholarship to be awarded to a qualified student as |
provided in
subsection (c) of this Section exceeds the cost of |
attendance at the
institution at which the student is enrolled, |
the minority teacher
scholarship shall be reduced by an amount |
equal to the amount by which the
combined financial assistance |
available to the student exceeds the cost
of attendance.
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(e) The maximum number of academic terms for which a |
qualified
student
can receive minority teacher scholarship |
assistance shall be 8 semesters or
12 quarters.
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(f) In any academic year for which an eligible applicant |
under this
Section accepts financial assistance through the |
Paul Douglas Teacher
Scholarship Program, as authorized by |
Section 551 et seq. of the Higher
Education Act of 1965, the |
applicant shall not be eligible for scholarship
assistance |
awarded under this Section.
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(g) All applications for minority teacher scholarships to |
be awarded
under this Section shall be made to the Commission |
on forms which the
Commission shall provide for eligible |
applicants. The form of applications
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 or recommendations
as the Commission deems |
necessary.
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(h) Subject to a separate appropriation for such purposes, |
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payment of
any minority teacher scholarship awarded under this |
Section shall be
determined by the Commission. All scholarship |
funds distributed in
accordance with this subsection shall be |
paid to the institution and used
only for payment of the |
tuition and fee and room and board expenses
incurred by the |
student in connection with his or her attendance as an
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undergraduate student at a qualified Illinois institution of |
higher
learning. Any minority teacher scholarship awarded |
under this Section
shall be applicable to 2 semesters or 3 |
quarters of enrollment. If a
qualified student withdraws from |
enrollment prior to completion of the
first semester or quarter |
for which the minority teacher scholarship is
applicable, the |
school shall refund to the Commission the full amount of the
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minority teacher scholarship.
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(i) The Commission shall administer the minority teacher |
scholarship aid
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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(j) When an appropriation to the Commission for a given |
fiscal year is
insufficient to provide scholarships to all |
qualified students, the
Commission shall allocate the |
appropriation in accordance with this
subsection. If funds are |
insufficient to provide all qualified students
with a |
scholarship as authorized by this Section, the Commission shall
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allocate the available scholarship funds for that fiscal year |
on the basis
of the date the Commission receives a complete |
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application form.
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(k) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (j) or any |
other
provision of this Section, at least 30% of the funds |
appropriated for
scholarships awarded under this Section in |
each fiscal year shall be reserved
for qualified male minority |
applicants.
If the Commission does not receive enough |
applications from qualified male
minorities on or before
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January 1 of each fiscal year to award 30% of the funds |
appropriated for these
scholarships to qualified
male minority |
applicants, then the Commission may award a portion of the
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reserved funds to qualified
female minority applicants.
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(l) Prior to receiving scholarship assistance for any |
academic year,
each recipient of a minority teacher 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 |
program for which the recipient was awarded a minority
teacher |
scholarship, the recipient (i) shall begin teaching for a
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period of not less
than one year for each year of scholarship |
assistance he or she was awarded
under this Section; and (ii) |
shall fulfill this teaching obligation at a
nonprofit Illinois |
public, private, or parochial preschool, elementary school,
or |
secondary school at which no less than 30% of the enrolled |
students are
minority students in the year during which the |
recipient begins teaching at the
school; and (iii) shall, upon |
request by the Commission, provide the Commission
with evidence |
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that he or she is fulfilling or has fulfilled the terms of the
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teaching agreement provided for in this subsection.
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(m) If a recipient of a minority teacher scholarship |
awarded under this
Section fails to fulfill the teaching |
obligation set forth in subsection
(l) of this Section, the |
Commission shall require the recipient to repay
the amount of |
the scholarships received, prorated according to the fraction
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of the teaching obligation not completed, at a rate of interest |
equal to
5%, and, if applicable, reasonable collection fees.
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The Commission is authorized to establish rules relating to its |
collection
activities for repayment of scholarships under this |
Section. All repayments
collected under this Section shall be |
forwarded to the State Comptroller for
deposit into the State's |
General Revenue Fund.
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(n) A recipient of minority teacher scholarship shall not |
be considered
in violation of the agreement entered into |
pursuant to subsection (l) 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 a qualified Illinois
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institution of higher learning; (ii) is serving, not in excess |
of 3 years,
as a member of the armed services of the United |
States; (iii) is
a person with a temporary total disability for |
a period of time not to exceed 3 years as
established by sworn |
affidavit of a qualified physician; (iv) is seeking
and unable |
to find full time employment as a teacher at an Illinois |
public,
private, or parochial preschool or elementary or |
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secondary school that
satisfies the
criteria set forth in |
subsection (l) of this Section and is able to provide
evidence |
of that fact; (v) becomes a person with a permanent total |
disability as
established by sworn affidavit of a qualified |
physician; (vi) is taking additional courses, on at least a |
half-time basis, needed to obtain licensure certification as a |
teacher in Illinois; or (vii) 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.
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(o) Scholarship recipients under this Section who withdraw |
from
a program of teacher education but remain enrolled in |
school
to continue their postsecondary studies in another |
academic discipline shall
not be required to commence repayment |
of their Minority Teachers of Illinois
scholarship so long as |
they remain enrolled in school on a full-time basis or
if they |
can document for the Commission special circumstances that |
warrant
extension of repayment.
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(Source: P.A. 98-718, eff. 1-1-15; 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)
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Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect June 1, |
2018.
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