- Introduced -

SB 1072 - This act establishes the "Hope Scholarship Program".

The Hope Scholarship Program will be administered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary education. The program will provide scholarships for eligible students who enter and make a commitment to pursue a teacher education program and agree to teach in a Missouri public high school, the population of which includes a higher than average "at-risk" student population, as a condition of receiving the scholarship. The student will teach for a period of two years for every one year they received a scholarship or the scholarship will be treated as a loan.

An eligible student is defined as an individual who is a United States citizen and a Missouri resident who graduated with at least a 2.5 GPA from a Missouri high school. The scholarship recipient must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 on a four-point scale or equivalent in college. The four-year hope scholarship will encompass the total cost of an eligible student's tuition and fees at a four-year college or university located in Missouri.

DONALD THALHUBER