SB 288 Summary

• Removes the July 1, 2010 sunset date from the Minority Teacher Recruitment Advisory Committee, making it a permanent body with 19 members appointed by legislative and executive leaders to oversee the Minority Teacher Recruitment Center.

• Directs the Minority Teacher Recruitment Center to award grants to consortia composed of higher education institutions, school districts, and community organizations to establish "Grow Your Own" teacher preparation programs recruiting parents, paraprofessionals, and community leaders to become teachers.

• Requires grant recipients to focus on hard-to-staff schools (where at least 35% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches) and hard-to-staff teaching positions (special education, bilingual education, mathematics, or science).

• Establishes loan forgiveness programs for minority teachers completing five years of service in low-income schools and requires program budgets to cover tuition, books, fees, childcare, transportation, and tutoring services.

• Prohibits grant funds from supplanting existing institutional spending and requires institutions to match their average per-student expenditures on similar programs; effective July 1, 2015, with emergency declaration.