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An underlying issue was revealed during debate on a House bill to attract STEM teachers to the state by offering them student debt relief.
A hidden issue was revealed during debate on a House bill to encourage STEM teachers to the state by offering them student debt relief. It doesn’t address retention and might be seen as unfair by teachers already employed in the field.
HB 3068 left the House Education Committee on Wednesday and moved to the Finance Committee. In order to give West Virginia educators more opportunities to pursue a lifetime career in aiding students’ education in STEM fields, it establishes the West Virginia STEM Scholarship Program.
According to an article published by Gov Tech on February 09, 2023, a teacher would need to be a citizen of the United States, have lived in West Virginia for at least one year, hold a master’s degree in education, have worked in a K–12 school in West Virginia for at least five years, and have debt that needed to be paid off in order to qualify.
The bill doesn’t only apply to new hires, according to the committee counsel, who noted that an employed teacher who returns and receives training in a STEM field and subsequently meets all the requirements may be eligible.
The program is expected to cost $70 million for 7,068 West Virginian STEM lecturers and would run from January 2024 to January 2030.