S 484: Establishes the rural teacher education loan repayment program in the education department which provides payment for the undergraduate and graduate education loans of teachers in rural school districts who agree to teach in rural areas for at least 5 years.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 484 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. OBERACKER, BORRELLO, GALLIVAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the rural teacher education loan repayment program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 676-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 676-a. Rural teacher education loan repayment program. 1. Defi- 4 nitions. For the purposes of this section: 5 a. "Rural school district" shall mean a school district providing 6 services within a rural area. 7 b. "Rural area" shall mean a county with a population of two hundred 8 thousand or less; or a town with a population density of one hundred 9 fifty or less per square mile. 10 c. "Student loan expenses" shall mean the aggregate total of annual 11 student loans for the cost of attendance at an undergraduate and/or 12 graduate institution leading to teaching certification. Interest paid or 13 due on such loans shall be deemed to be eligible for reimbursement 14 pursuant to this section. 15 2. Establishment. a. There shall be established within the department 16 the rural teacher education loan repayment program. The department 17 shall, in cooperation and coordination with the New York state center 18 for rural schools, annually identify rural school districts which are 19 having difficulty attracting and retaining teachers, and develop crite- 20 ria upon which awards shall be made to teachers who become employed by 21 such identified rural school districts who agree to provide teaching 22 services within such rural area for not less than five years. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01588-01-5 
 S. 484 2 1 b. The commissioner is authorized, within amounts made available for 2 the purposes of this section, to make awards beginning January first, 3 two thousand twenty-six, to a teacher who as determined by the commis- 4 sioner to be taking employment in a rural area identified as being 5 underserved, who is licensed to teach in this state and who agrees to 6 for at least five years teach in such rural area. Such a teacher shall 7 be eligible for a loan repayment award of up to twenty thousand dollars 8 per year. 9 3. Awards. Rural teacher education loan repayment awards shall be 10 awarded annually. Such awards shall be allocated by the president in 11 accordance with the criteria established pursuant to subdivision two of 12 this section. 13 4. Limit on awards. Loan repayment awards made to a teacher pursuant 14 to subdivision two of this section shall not exceed the total qualifying 15 outstanding debt of the teacher from student loans to cover tuition and 16 other related educational expenses, made by or guaranteed by the federal 17 or state government, or made by a lending or educational institution 18 approved under title IV of the federal higher education act. Loan repay- 19 ment awards shall be used solely to repay such outstanding debt. 20 5. Default. Within such time as the commissioner shall by regulation 21 provide, a recipient of an award shall have practiced as a teacher in a 22 rural area in the state. If a recipient fails to comply fully with such 23 conditions, the president shall be entitled to receive from such recipi- 24 ent an amount to be determined by the formula: 25 A = 2B(t-s) 26 t 27 in which "A" is the amount the president is entitled to recover, "B" is 28 the sum of all payments made to the recipient and the interest on such 29 amount which would be payable if at the times such awards were paid they 30 were loans bearing interest at the maximum prevailing rate; "t" is the 31 total number of months in the recipient's period of obligated services; 32 and "s" is the number of months of services actually rendered by the 33 recipient. Any amount which the president is entitled to recover under 34 this subdivision shall be paid within the five-year period beginning on 35 the date that the recipient failed to comply with this condition. Any 36 obligation to comply with such provisions shall be canceled upon the 37 death of the recipient. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations to 38 provide for the waiver or suspension of any financial obligation when 39 compliance would involve extreme hardship. 40 6. Rules. The commissioner shall consult with the New York state 41 center for rural schools, and the commissioner, in coordination with the 42 corporation, shall promulgate regulations to effectuate the provisions 43 and purposes of this section. 44 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 45 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 46 ment and/or repeal of any criteria, rule or regulation necessary for the 47 implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be 48 made and completed on or before such effective date.