HI SB1056

Establishes a teaching incentive program for high need areas within the Department of Education providing loan repayment assistance to teachers in hard-to-staff schools.

Qualified individuals (Hawaii residents pursuing master's or doctoral degrees in education) receive 10% annual student loan repayment for up to 10 years of service in high need areas; non-qualified individuals with education degrees receive 5% annual repayment.

Creates scholarship grants covering up to 50% of tuition costs per academic year for full-time graduate education students, with maximum funding of 3 years for master's degrees or 4 years for doctoral degrees.

Scholarship recipients must maintain 3.0+ GPA, teach in high need areas for one year per year of scholarship received, and reimburse the state if they fail to comply with program requirements.

Appropriates unspecified sums from general revenues for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 to establish both the loan repayment program and scholarship grant program; takes effect July 1, 2015.