Under current law, the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) administers
various student loan programs under which certain percentages of the loans are
forgiven for each year that a loan recipient is employed in certain professions after
the completion of the recipient's program of study. Those programs include a
program under which loans are forgiven after the recipient has been employed in this
state as a nurse, a program under which loans are forgiven after the recipient has
been employed as a teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools, a program under which
loans are forgiven after the recipient has been employed in this state as a teacher of
visually impaired pupils or as an orientation and mobility instructor, and a program
under which loans are forgiven after the recipient has been employed as a teacher
in a school district in this state in which minority students constitute at least 29
percent of the membership of the school district.

This bill creates a loan program, to be administered by HEAB, for students who
are registered as juniors or seniors, or who hold a bachelor's degree and are

---

registered as special students, in the University of Wisconsin System or in an
accredited, private institution of higher education located in this state; who are
enrolled in programs of study leading to a license to teach and who are not currently
licensed as teachers; who meet academic criteria specified by HEAB; and who agree
to teach in school districts in this state that have populations of less than 10,000.
The maximum amount of a loan that a person may receive during any fiscal year is
$2,500 and the maximum amount that a person may receive under the program is
$5,000. Under the bill, HEAB must forgive 25 percent of a loan's principal and
interest for each school year that a recipient teaches in a school district that, as of
the first day of the first school year for which the loan is forgiven, has a population
of less than 10,000.

The bill also creates a loan program, to be administered by HEAB, to defray the
cost of: 1) tuition, fees, and expenses for residents of this state who are enrolled in
a program of study in the University of Wisconsin System or in an accredited, private
institution of higher education leading to a license to teach mathematics or science,
who meet academic criteria specified by the board, and who agree to teach
mathematics or science in a school district located in this state; and 2) tuition and
fees for residents of this state who are enrolled in an alternative teacher training
program leading to a permit to teach mathematics or science, who meet academic
criteria specified by HEAB, and who agree to teach mathematics or science in a
school district located in this state.

For purposes of this loan program, an alternative teacher training program is
a program established by the state superintendent of public instruction under which
an individual who holds a bachelor's degree in engineering, music, art, a foreign
language, computer science, mathematics, or science, who has had at least five years
of professional experience in one of those subject areas, and who demonstrates
competency in his or her subject area may, on satisfactory completion of
approximately 100 hours of formal training, be granted a professional teaching
permit authorizing the person to teach in his or her subject area.

The maximum amount of a loan that a person may receive during any fiscal
year is $10,000 and the maximum amount that a person may receive under the
program is $50,000. Under the bill, HEAB must forgive 25 percent of the principal
and interest on the loan for the first school year, 25 percent of the principal and
interest on the loan for the 2nd school year, and 50 percent of the principal and
interest on the loan for the 3rd school year that the recipient holds a license or permit
to teach, is employed full-time by a school district located in this state, and devotes
not less than 50 percent of that full-time employment to the teaching of mathematics
or science.