{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-164.757","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 164.757","heading":"District teacher certification loan fund.","body":"(1) For purposes of this section unless the context requires otherwise:\n(a) \"Critical shortage area\" means an area in which there are insufficient numbers\nof fully certified staff in a particular subject, school, or geographic location;\n(b) \"Emergency certifie d teacher\" means an individual who has not completed\ncertification requirements but has been awarded a temporary certificate for a\ncertification area in which no fully qualified teacher was available;\n(c) \"Qualified teacher\" means a teacher who holds the a ppropriate certification\nfor a position unless the superintendent of the employing local school district\nhas documented evidence that the teacher is unsuitable for appointment;\n(d) \"Qualified teaching service\" means teaching for at least seventy (70) days\neach semester or the equivalent in the certification area for which an\nindividual received a forgivable loan in the Kentucky school district that\nrecommended the individual for a loan or in another Kentucky private or\npublic school district in the certific ation area for which an individual received\na forgivable loan if no position was available in the recommending school\ndistrict at the time when the individual completed his or her certification;\n(e) \"Semester\" means a period which usually makes up one -half (1/2) of a school\nyear or one-half (1/2) of a postsecondary institution's academic year; and\n(f) \"Summer term\" means an academic period consisting of one (1) or more\nsessions of instruction between a spring and a fall semester at a postsecondary\neducation institution.\n(2) To increase the number of qualified teachers in local school districts and to reduce\nthe number of emergency certified teachers, there is hereby created the district\nteacher certification loan fund in the State Treasury. The loans shall b e used to\nprovide forgivable loans to emergency certified personnel, fully certified teachers\nwho are willing to seek additional certification in hard -to-fill or critical shortage\nareas, and paraprofessionals in local school districts to become fully certi fied\nteachers and to continue service within the local district.\n(3) The fund shall be administered by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance\nAuthority. The authority shall promulgate administrative regulations to specify the\nterms and conditions of the award, cancellation, and repayment of loans, including\nbut not limited to the maximum amount that may be loaned per term and the\nmaximum aggregate amount per applicant, the selection process, eligibility for\nrenewal, the specific administrative procedures for utilizing the funds, and the rate\nof repayment.\n(4) To qualify for a forgivable loan, an applicant shall meet the following requirements:\n(a) Be employed by a specific local district as a certified teacher, an emergency\nfull-time or part -time teacher, an emergency substitute teacher, or a\nparaprofessional at the time he or she makes application for the loan;\n(b) Be recommended by the superintend ent as an individual that he or she would\nrecommend to be employed in a teaching position for which the applicant is\npursuing certification if the applicant fulfills all credentialing requirements;\n(c) Be endorsed by the school -based decision making counci l of the school in\nwhich he or she serves to receive a loan for the purposes of obtaining teacher\ncertification in a specific certification area; except that the endorsement shall\nnot be construed as a commitment of securing a position in the particular\nschool in the future;\n(d) Be admitted and enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in a\nKentucky private or public postsecondary institution that offers a teacher\ncertification program in the area for which he or she is seeking certification;\nand\n(e) Be enrolled in a minimum of six (6) credit hours and not more than nine (9)\ncredit hours during each semester of an academic term while employed\nconcurrently in the school district and in not less than six (6) credit hours\nduring the summer term. If a sch ool district recommends an applicant for a\nloan under provisions of this section and grants a leave of absence to the\nemployee to pursue certification, the employee shall be enrolled as a full -time\nundergraduate or graduate student as defined by the instit ution in which he or\nshe is enrolled.\n(5) A participant in a local district alternative certification program as defined in KRS\n161.048(2) may be eligible for a loan under provisions of this section to offset costs\nassociated with the program. The authorit y shall establish by administrative\nregulation the specific requirements, notwithstanding requirements in subsection (4)\nof this section.\n(6) A loan shall not be awarded or a promissory note cancellation shall not be granted\nto any person who is in default  on any obligation to the authority under any\nprogram administered pursuant to KRS 164.740 to 164.785 until financial\nobligations to the authority are satisfied, except that ineligibility for this reason may\nbe waived by the authority for cause.\n(7) Recipients shall render one (1) semester of qualified teaching service for each\nsemester or summer term for which a loan was received. Upon completion of each\nsemester of qualified teacher service, the authority shall cancel the appropriate\nportion of the promissory notes.\n(8) If the recipient of a loan fails to complete the certification at a participating\ninstitution or fails to render qualified teaching service in any semester following\ncertification, unless the failure is temporarily waived for cause by the a uthority, the\nrecipient shall immediately become liable to the authority for repayment of the sum\nof all outstanding promissory notes and accrued interest. Persons liable for\nrepayment of loans under this subsection shall be liable for interest accruing fr om\nthe dates on which the loans were disbursed.\n(9) Failure to meet repayment obligations imposed by this section shall be cause for the\nrevocation of a person's certification, subject to the procedures set forth in KRS\n161.120.\n(10) All moneys repaid to t he authority under this section shall be added to the fund in\nthis section. Any fund balance at the close of a fiscal year shall not lapse but shall\nbe carried forward to the next fiscal year and continuously appropriated for the\npurposes specified in this section.\n(11) The authority may execute appropriate contracts and promissory notes for\nadministering this section.\n(12) If available funds are insufficient for all requested loans for eligible applicants\nduring any fiscal year, the authority shall give pr iority consideration to eligible\napplicants who previously received loans. If funds are insufficient to make all\nrequested renewal loans to eligible applicants, the authority shall reduce all loans to\nthe extent necessary to provide loans to all qualified renewal applicants. If, after\nawarding all eligible renewal applicants, funds are not depleted, priority shall be\ngiven to loans for those applicants who are seeking certification in critical shortage\nareas.","path":["KRS Chapter 164"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=4429","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:17Z","sha256":"835326cef523c3df852c997edff1be7ff412804c0460cab0920c301454df6f72","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-164.756","next":"us-ky/krs-164.758"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}