Scholarships awarded under this Section shall be issued pursuant to
regulations promulgated by the Commission;
provided that no rule or regulation promulgated by the State Board of
Education prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1993 pursuant
to the exercise of any right, power, duty, responsibility or matter of pending
business transferred from the State Board of Education to the Commission under
this Section shall be affected thereby, and all such rules and regulations
shall become the rules and regulations of the Commission until modified or
changed by the Commission in accordance with law.
For the purposes of this Section scholarships awarded each school year
shall be deemed to be issued on July 1 of the year prior to
the start of the postsecondary school term and all calculations for use of the scholarship shall be based on such
date. Each scholarship shall entitle its holder to exemption from fees as
provided in subsection (a) of Section 65.40 while enrolled in a special
education program of
teacher education, for a period of not more than 4 calendar years and shall be
available for use at any time during such period of study except as provided in
subsection (b) of Section 65.40.
Scholarships issued to holders of a valid certificate issued under the
laws relating to the certification of teachers as provided in
paragraph (2) of this subsection may also entitle the holder thereof to
a program of teacher education that will prepare the student for the
teaching of children described in Section 14-1 of the School Code at the
graduate level.
(b) The principal, or his or her
designee, of an approved high school shall
certify to the Commission, for students who are Illinois residents and are
completing an application, that the students ranked
scholastically in the upper one-half of their graduating class at
the end of
the sixth semester.
(c) Each holder of a scholarship must furnish proof to the
Commission, in such form and at such intervals as the
Commission prescribes, of the holder's continued
enrollment in a teacher education program qualifying the holder for the
scholarship. Any holder of a scholarship who fails to register in a
special education program of teacher education at the university within 10
days after the
commencement of the term, quarter or semester immediately following the
receipt of the scholarship or who, having registered, withdraws from the
university or transfers out of teacher education, shall thereupon
forfeit the right to use it and it may be granted to the person having
the next highest rank as shown on the list held by the
Commission. If the person having the next
highest rank, within 10 days after notification thereof by the
Commission, fails to register at any such
university in a special education program of teacher education, or who,
having registered,
withdraws from the university or transfers out of teacher education, the
scholarship may then be granted to the person shown on the list as
having the rank next below such person.
(d) Any person who has accepted a scholarship under the preceding
subsections of this Section must, within one year after graduation from or
termination of
enrollment in a teacher education program, begin teaching at a nonprofit
Illinois public,
private, or parochial preschool or elementary or secondary school for a period of at least 2 of the
5 years
immediately following that graduation or termination, excluding, however, from
the computation of that 5 year period (i) any time up to 3 years
spent in the
military service, whether such service occurs before or after the person
graduates; (ii) any time
that person is enrolled full-time in an academic program related to the field
of teaching leading to a
graduate or postgraduate degree; (iii) the time that person is
a person with a temporary total disability for a period of time not to exceed 3 years, as
established by the sworn affidavit of a qualified physician; (iv) the time that
person is seeking and unable to find full time employment as a teacher at an
Illinois public, private, or parochial school; (v) the time that person is
taking additional courses, on at least a half-time basis, needed to obtain
certification as a teacher in Illinois; or (vi) the time that person is fulfilling teaching requirements associated with other programs administered by the Commission if he or she cannot concurrently fulfill them under this Section in a period of time equal to the length of the teaching obligation.
A person who has accepted a scholarship under the preceding
subsections of this Section and who has been unable to
fulfill the teaching requirements of this Section may
receive a deferment from the obligation of repayment under
this subsection (d) under guidelines established by the Commission; provided
that no guideline established for any such purpose by the State Board of
Education prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1993 shall be
affected by the transfer to the Commission of the responsibility for
administering and implementing the provisions of this Section, and all
guidelines so established shall become the guidelines of the Commission until
modified or changed by the Commission.
Any such person who fails to fulfill this teaching requirement shall pay
to the Commission the amount of tuition waived by
virtue of his or her acceptance of the scholarship, together with interest at
5% per year on that amount. However, this obligation to repay the
amount of
tuition waived plus interest does not apply when the failure to fulfill the
teaching requirement results from the death or adjudication as a person
under legal disability of the person holding the scholarship, and no claim for
repayment may be filed against the estate of such a decedent or person under
legal disability. If a recipient who enters into repayment under this paragraph subsequently, within 5 years of entering repayment, begins to teach at a school meeting the description under this subsection (d), the Commission may reduce the amount owed by the recipient in proportion to the amount of the teaching obligation completed. Payments received by the Commission under this subsection
(d) shall be remitted to the State
Treasurer for deposit in
the General Revenue
Fund. Each person receiving a
scholarship shall be
provided with a
description of the provisions of this subsection (d) at the time
he or she qualifies for the benefits of
such a scholarship.
(e) This Section is basically the same as Sections
30-1, 30-2, 30-3, and
30-4a of the School Code, which are repealed by this amendatory Act of 1993,
and shall be construed as a continuation of the teacher scholarship program
established by that prior law, and not as a new or different teacher
scholarship program. The State Board of Education shall transfer to the
Commission, as the successor to the State Board of Education for all purposes
of administering and implementing the provisions of this Section, all books,
accounts, records, papers, documents, contracts, agreements, and pending
business in any way relating to the teacher scholarship program continued under
this Section; and all scholarships at any time awarded under that program by,
and all applications for any such scholarships at any time made to, the State
Board of Education shall be unaffected by the transfer
to the Commission of all responsibility for the administration and
implementation of the teacher scholarship program continued under this
Section. The State Board of Education shall furnish to the Commission such
other information as the Commission may request to assist it in administering
this Section.
(Source: P.A. 103-448, eff. 8-4-23.)
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