Montana Code Annotated
Part 5. Quality Educator Loan Assistance Program
20-4-503. Critical quality educator shortage areas -- impacted schools

20-4-503. (Temporary) Critical quality educator shortage areas -- impacted schools. (1) The board of public education, in consultation with the office of public instruction, shall:
(a) maintain and make publicly available a current list of impacted schools; and
(b) based on reporting by impacted schools or school districts in which impacted schools are located, identify within each impacted school, critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a). The board of public education shall also establish a process for impacted schools to report and qualify, no later than 5 days after submission of a written report on a form developed by the board, a current vacancy for a critical quality educator shortage area under the criteria set forth in 20-4-502(1)(b). Critical quality educator shortage areas qualifying under 20-4-502(1)(b) are eligible for loan repayment assistance independent of the report under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The board of public education shall publish by February 1 an annual report listing the critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a) in each impacted school. The report must apply to the school year that begins July 1 following the publication of the report in order to assist recruitment by impacted schools.
(3) A quality educator working at an impacted school in a critical quality educator shortage area is eligible for repayment of all or part of the quality educator's outstanding educational loans existing at the time of application in accordance with the eligibility and award criteria established under this part. If a quality educator is eligible for loan assistance and remains employed in the same impacted school or another impacted school within the same school district and in the same critical quality educator shortage area for which the quality educator was originally eligible, the quality educator remains eligible for up to 3 years of state-funded loan repayment assistance and an additional 1 year of loan repayment assistance funded by the impacted school or the district under which the impacted school is operated pursuant to 20-4-504(2). Both state-funded loan repayment assistance and locally funded loan repayment assistance under this section are exempt from taxation as specified in 15-30-2110(14).
20-4-503. (Effective January 1, 2024) Critical quality educator shortage areas -- impacted schools. (1) The board of public education, in consultation with the office of public instruction, shall:
(a) maintain and make publicly available a current list of impacted schools; and
(b) based on reporting by impacted schools or school districts in which impacted schools are located, identify within each impacted school, critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a). The board of public education shall also establish a process for impacted schools to report and qualify, no later than 5 days after submission of a written report on a form developed by the board, a current vacancy for a critical quality educator shortage area under the criteria set forth in 20-4-502(1)(b). Critical quality educator shortage areas qualifying under 20-4-502(1)(b) are eligible for loan repayment assistance independent of the report under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The board of public education shall publish by February 1 an annual report listing the critical quality educator shortage areas under 20-4-502(1)(a) in each impacted school. The report must apply to the school year that begins July 1 following the publication of the report in order to assist recruitment by impacted schools.
(3) A quality educator working at an impacted school in a critical quality educator shortage area is eligible for repayment of all or part of the quality educator's outstanding educational loans existing at the time of application in accordance with the eligibility and award criteria established under this part. If a quality educator is eligible for loan assistance and remains employed in the same impacted school or another impacted school within the same school district and in the same critical quality educator shortage area for which the quality educator was originally eligible, the quality educator remains eligible for up to 3 years of state-funded loan repayment assistance and an additional 1 year of loan repayment assistance funded by the impacted school or the district under which the impacted school is operated pursuant to 20-4-504(2).
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 1, Sp. L. May 2007; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 85, L. 2017; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 347, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 321, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 48, Ch. 503, L. 2021.

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