0001|                            HOUSE BILL 401
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0002|     43RD LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - SECOND SESSION, 1998
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0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
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0004|                            J. PAUL TAYLOR
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0005|     
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0006|                                   
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0007|     
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0008|                                   
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0009|     
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0010|                                AN ACT
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0011|     RELATING TO EDUCATION; PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A
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0012|     STUDENT TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; CREATING A FUND; MAKING
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0013|     AN APPROPRIATION.
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0014|     
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0015|     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0016|          Section 1.  SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.--
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0017|               A.  In order to encourage individuals to enter the
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0018|     teaching profession and to retain teachers in New Mexico, the
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0019|     commission on higher education shall promulgate regulations to
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0020|     establish and administer a student teacher scholarship
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0021|     program.
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0022|               B.  In establishing the program, the commission on
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0023|     higher education shall:
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0024|                    (1)  develop standardized methods to identify
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0025|     eligible student teachers and to distribute money to
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0001|     state-board-of-education-approved teacher training
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0002|     institutions;
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0003|                    (2)  verify that recipients are employed as
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0004|     full-time teachers in a public or state-board-of-education-
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0005|     accredited private school setting in New Mexico for at least
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0006|     one year after completion of student teaching;
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0007|                    (3)  develop criteria for selection of
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0008|     scholarship recipients, which shall include academic
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0009|     performance, campus involvement, letters of recommendation and
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0010|     personal commitment to the teaching profession;
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0011|                    (4)  pay full tuition for recipients for the
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0012|     semester in which they are student teaching; and
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0013|                    (5)  ensure that recipients comply with all
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0014|     regulations adopted by the commission for the scholarship
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0015|     program, including a regulation providing for the repayment,
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0016|     within one year, of all scholarship funds granted a student,
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0017|     if that student does not comply with the provisions of
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0018|     Paragraph (2) of this subsection.
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0019|          Section 2.  STUDENT TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP FUND CREATED.--
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0020|     The "student teacher scholarship fund" is created in the state
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0021|     treasury.  Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of a
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0022|     fiscal year. Money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it
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0023|     through gifts, grants, bequests and devices shall be deposited
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0024|     in the fund.  The fund shall be invested as other state funds
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0025|     are invested.  Money in the fund is appropriated to the
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0001|     commission on higher education to carry out the purposes of
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0002|     Section 1 of this act. Disbursements from the fund shall be
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0003|     made upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and
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0004|     administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the executive
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0005|     director of the commission on higher education or his
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0006|     designee.  The commission shall use no more than three percent
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0007|     of the money in the fund for administration.  The remaining
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0008|     money in the fund shall be used to carry out the provisions of
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0009|     Section 1 of this act.
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0010|          Section 3.  APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred fifty thousand
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0011|     dollars ($250,000) is appropriated from the general fund to
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0012|     the commission on higher education for the student teacher
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0013|     scholarship fund for expenditure in fiscal year 1999 and
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0014|     subsequent fiscal years to carry out the provisions of Section
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0015|     1 of this act.  Any unexpended or unencumbered balance
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0016|     remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the
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0017|     general fund.
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0018|                              
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