1. A teach Iowa scholar program is established to provide teach Iowa scholar grants to selected high-caliber teachers. 2. An Iowa resident or nonresident applicant shall be eligible for a teach Iowa scholar grant ifthe applicant meets all of the criteria specified under, or established in accordance with, subsection 3. Priority shall be given to applicants who are residents of Iowa. A person isineligible for this program ifthe person receives a forgivable loan under section 256.219 or loan forgiveness under section 256.220. 3. Criteria for eligibility shall be established by the commission and shall include but are not limited to the following: a. The applicant was in the top twenty-five percent academically of students exiting a teacher preparation program approved by the state board pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 3,or a similar teacher preparation program in another state,or had earned other comparable academic credentials. b. The applicant is preparing to teach in fields including but not limited to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; English as a second language or special education instruction; or ispreparing to teach in a hard-to-staff subject as identified by the department. The department shall take into account the varying regional needs in the state for teachers in these subject areas when applying the criterion of this paragraph. The department shall annually identify and designate hard-to-staff subjects for the purpose of this paragraph. The eligibilityof an applicant who receives a teach Iowa scholar grant and who is preparing to teach in a hard-to-staff subject as identified by the department shall not be affected in subsequent years if the department does not continue to identify that subject as a hard-to-staff subject. c. The applicant met allof the eligibilityrequirements of this section on or after January 1, 2013. A person who met the program eligibility requirements of this section prior to January 1,2013, isineligible for this program. 4. A selected applicant who meets allof the eligibility requirements of this section shall be eligible for ateach Iowa scholar grantfor each year of full-timeemployment completed inthis state as a teacher for a school district, charter school, area education agency, or accredited nonpublic school. A teach Iowa scholar grant shall not exceed four thousand dollars per year per recipient. Grants awarded under this section shall not exceed a total of twenty thousand dollars per recipient over a five-year period. If a selected applicant has received a federally guaranteed Stafford loan under the federal family education loan program or the federal direct loan program, a federal direct plus loan, or a federal Perkins loan, the selected applicant may elect to have the commission make payment under the program directly to the selected applicant’s student loan holder. 5. The commission shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to administer this section. The rules shall include but shall not be limited to a process for use by the commission to determine which eligible applicants will receive teach Iowa scholar grants. 6. A teach Iowa scholar fund is established in the state treasury. The fund shall be administered by the commission and shall consist of moneys appropriated by the general assembly and any other moneys received by the commission for deposit in the fund, including payments collected by the commission pursuant to section 256.219, subsection 7. The moneys in the fund are appropriated to the commission for the teach Iowa scholar program. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund of the state but shall remain available for expenditure for the teach Iowa scholar program for subsequent fiscal years. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund and are appropriated to the college student aid commission for purposes of administering any program described in this subchapter VII, part 4. C2014, §261.110 Acts, ch 129, §1; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2631, 2632, 2641 C2024, §256.218 Subsection6amended
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