Rep. Moed has introduced HB 1210 which would repay student loans for certain teachers.
Specifically, if the teacher graduated from his or her high school in the top 20% or in the top 20th percentile of the ACT or SAT exam; graduates from college with not less than a 3.5 GPA (on a 4.0 scale), and either teaches in a “critical shortage” geographic area or teaches science, technology, engineering, math, or special ed, then – at the end of the third consecutive year of teaching – the State would pay up to $9,000 of the teacher’s student loans.
The Department of Education would be in charge of determining “critical shortage geographic areas” which are defined as areas having or projected to have within the next twelve months a shortage of full-time licensed elementary or high school teachers. The teacher would have to apply to be part of the program within two years of graduating and would have to enter into an agreement promising to teach in one of the designated subject areas or geographic areas for three years. The teacher is permitted to teach at different schools if the eligible service is in consecutive years. No time will be credited prior to the teacher entering into the agreement. Only individuals who graduate from high school after June 30, 2014 would be eligible. With four years of college and the three year service requirement, it would be 2022 before the state would start paying out on this program.
This is reminiscent of the loan repayment program for doctors as an incentive to have them go work in an under-served geographic area. It’s probably easier for a teacher to pick up and move to a new school after serving his or her time than it is for a doctor to pick up and move his or her medical practice area. The subject areas are a bit “stickier” in that it’s less likely that, once trained in particular subject areas, a teacher would move on to other subject areas after the three years were up. Whether this bill moves forward probably speaks to that perennial question of whether we regard teachers as professionals or more like jumped up babysitters.
So basically a State of Indiana sponsored Teach for America program.
I don’t know if Indiana still has this, but a long while back I looked into a program that covered the cost of education classes for college graduates who wanted to get their certification in teaching (not an education degree), as long as taught in the state for at least three years. I can see why that wouldn’t be enough, though, in the case of smaller districts. The problem is the same for teachers as for doctors, or anyone else a small town needs — does someone young and single and just out of school want to go to the middle of nowhere? I know that with doctor programs, what limited success they’ve had has come from targeting medical students who grew up in rural areas, and starting specific rural tracks. But that’s very limited success.
This would be a great way for liberal arts graduates who not otherwise employable to get job experience and for the state to pay for their education. They can say that they worked with children for three years in a deprived state, and are now ready for experience in “the real world”, in another area. After three years, it’s time to move on, and more specifically, to move out. It’s certainly one way to compensate for a low salary.