- Introduced -

SB 897 - This act creates the Urban Flight Scholarship Program, which consists of one hundred new full-ride scholarships for students enrolled in Missouri metropolitan or urban school districts with high at-risk student populations, as shall be defined by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Recipients of the scholarship will make a commitment to teach in Missouri at an elementary or secondary public school in a metropolitan or urban school district with a high at-risk student population for two years for every one year they garnered a scholarship. If the scholarship recipient fails to uphold this contract, the scholarship shall be considered a loan with 9 1/2% interest.

Seventy-five percent of the Urban Flight Scholarship Program will be financed by the state and twenty-five percent will be supported by donations from businesses. Any donating business firm shall receive a tax credit equal to fifty percent of the amount of the donation.

DONALD THALHUBER