20-4-504. Loan repayment assistance. (1) Loan repayment assistance may be provided on behalf of a quality educator who:

(a) is newly hired, with priority given to a quality educator newly hired in an impacted school pursuant to 20-4-503; and

(b) has an educational loan that is not in default and that has a minimum unpaid current balance of at least $1,000 at the time of application.

(2) A quality educator is eligible for state-funded loan repayment assistance for a lifetime total of no more than 3 years and an additional 1 year of loan repayment assistance voluntarily funded by the school or the district under which the school is operated, with the maximum annual loan repayment assistance not to exceed:

(a) $3,000 of state-funded loan repayment assistance after the first complete year of teaching;

(b) $4,000 of state-funded loan repayment assistance after the second complete year of teaching in the same school or another school within the same school district;

(c) $5,000 of state-funded loan repayment assistance after the third complete year of teaching in the same school or another school within the same school district; and

(d) up to $5,000 of loan repayment assistance funded by the school or the district under which the school is operated after the fourth complete year of teaching in the same school or another school within the same school district.

(3) If the funding for state-funded loan repayment assistance in any year is less than the total amount for which Montana quality educators qualify, the superintendent of public instruction shall prorate repayment assistance amounts as follows:

(a) The superintendent of public instruction shall prioritize repayment for quality educators working at impacted schools first. If there are funds remaining after allocating amounts to fully fund quality educators working in impacted schools pursuant to subsection (2), the superintendent of public instruction may award the remaining funds to quality educators who are working in schools that are not impacted schools and prorate the remaining funds if necessary. If the appropriated funds are insufficient to fully fund the amounts required for quality educators working in impacted schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall prorate the amounts as provided in subsection (3)(b).

(b) If the repayment assistance amount is insufficient to provide a full award to quality educators working in impacted schools, the superintendent of public instruction shall prorate the repayment assistance amount among only the quality educators working in impacted schools.