FISCAL NOTE

Senate Bill 225 as introduced creates the Alabama Teacher Initiative to provide scholarships to students enrolled in a teacher preparation program leading to a teaching certificate in a STEM-related field or special education at any Alabama public institution of higher education that contracts with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) to teach in a rural area for five years after certification. This bill provides that before the 2022 fall semester and before each fall semester thereafter, ACHE and the chief academic officer of each participating college shall jointly select up to 50 incoming first year students to participate in the program, which program shall not exceed, at any one time, 200 students. This bill provides that the amount of scholarship funds awarded to each participating school shall be determined by ACHE based on the annual tuition charged by the college and the amount appropriated by the Legislature. Based on average 2019-2020 undergraduate resident tuition rates, the estimated annual cost for scholarship funds for program participants, from initial participants (50) in year 1 to the maximum number of participants in year 4, without consideration of other financial aid a student may receive is as follows:

Year	Participants	Estimated Cost
1	50	$520,000
2	100	$1.04 million
3	150	$1.56 million
4 and thereafter	200	$2.08 million

Further, this bill provides that if a participant fails to comply with the terms of contract with ACHE, they shall return all scholarship funds received, plus interest computed as specified in the contract to ACHE. This could reduce or offset the administrative obligations of ACHE, which include making an annual report and funding request to the Legislature; and adopting necessary rules to implement the provisions of this bill.

Finally, this bill provides that the program shall be funded by legislative appropriation through ACHE.