Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Thursday that would expand the state’s teacher loan program to include rural areas.
The bill, A.B. 793, expands the program, which provides loan forgiveness for teachers who agree to work in certain school districts. The current law allows teachers in the Milwaukee school system to be eligible for the teacher loan program, as long as they are full-time elementary or secondary school teachers and are in an area in which there is a high demand for teachers. Teachers must also maintain a certain level of certification to receive the loan forgiveness.
The goal of the new bill—authored by state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and state Rep. Romaine Quinn, R-Rice Lake—is to improve the quality of education in rural school districts by attracting teachers to rural areas, where finding teachers can be more difficult.
The bill passed unanimously through the state Assembly with a vote of 94-0 and also cleared the state Senate in a 31-1 vote. Walker commended the bill, saying it will give children in the state of Wisconsin the opportunity to have better teachers “regardless of their zip code.”
“Every child in the state of Wisconsin deserves access to a great education,” Walker said in a statement. “The legislation we’re signing … helps us attract and keep great teachers in rural areas of our state, where it’s often difficult to recruit and retain educators.”
