HF 3706 Summary

• Establishes Center for Innovation and Teaching Excellence Program to support schools with significant achievement gaps between students of color and white students, and between students in poverty and those from advantaged families.

• Eligible schools must be Title I-funded elementary or secondary schools in the bottom ten percent based on math and reading proficiency rates, or bottom five percent based on student achievement growth under Minnesota Statutes section 120B.35.

• Sets staffing ratios for center schools including one classroom teacher per 18 students, one school counselor per 250 students, one school social worker per 400 students, and one school psychologist per 1,000 students.

• Establishes student loan repayment program administered by Department of Education to forgive one-fourth of qualified educational loan principal annually for ethnic minority employees of center schools, up to annual application.

• Appropriates funds to Department of Education for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 for both the student loan repayment program and innovation and excellence grants to provide comprehensive support systems for students and teachers.