More funds requested for teacher loan forgiveness

Students in teacher education programs could have a greater amount of student loans forgiven under a bill heard by the Education Committee Feb. 18.

LB842, introduced by Hyannis Sen. Al Davis, would allocate an additional $200,000 in state lottery proceeds to the Excellence in Teaching Act. The annual funding for the act, which provides loan forgiveness to college students in teacher education programs and teachers in graduate level programs, would be increased to $1.2 million.

Davis said providing loan forgiveness is important to keeping well-trained teachers in the state.

“Funding has not been adequate to meet the demand,” he said. “Many teachers have applied and have been turned away.”

Skyler Reising, a music teacher at Kloefkorn Elementary School in Lincoln, supported the bill. He said the bill would allow more teachers to continue their education, which ultimately benefits students as well.

“I don’t know a teacher who doesn’t want to be the best they can be, but it takes ongoing study and it’s hard to make ends meet,” he said. “Our students ultimately will benefit from having teachers with higher education in their subject areas.”

No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.