Teacher loan repayment bill advanced by Moed moves to governor for final approval

Press Release

Legislation by State Rep. Justin Moed (D-Indianapolis) that offers one of this session's few opportunities to keep Indiana's best and brightest at home after they graduate from college is on its way to Governor Mike Pence for final approval.

Indiana Senate members today concurred with changes made in the House to Senate Bill 330, which contains provisions authored by Moed aimed at attracting top performing students to teach the most critical subjects in public schools by providing student loan reimbursements of up to $9,000.

"By offering to help repay their student loans, we aim to attract college graduates from the top of their graduating classes to teach the most-needed subject areas in classrooms or schools where there is a shortage of teachers," said Moed.

Moed's proposal aligns with the Indiana House Democratic priority to address the current brain-drain by offering this incentive to qualified, skilled graduates who stay to teach in Indiana. The proposal comes as the result of two years of work, in which Moed has pushed for more benefits to attract graduates after his proposal failed to make it out of committee last year.

The language authored by Moed provides that if a graduate commits to teach in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) or special education, or if they commit to teaching in a school that has a serious shortfall of instructors, they will qualify for the $9,000 loan repayment at the end of their third year in the classroom.

The bill stipulates that in order to qualify for state-granted loan repayment, students must have graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school class or the top 20 percent of the ACT or SAT scores, and continued to score high marks by graduating college with at least a 3.5 grade point average.

"This legislation provides answers to two of the greatest problems facing our state," said Moed. "It provides the means for our most capable young Hoosiers to earn a living here in Indiana, and it ensures that we will have a new group of fresh young minds to lead classrooms for the next generation."

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