Preserving Teacher Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 532 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide that an individual may remain eligible to participate in the teacher loan forgiveness program under title IV of such Act if the individual’s period of consecutive years of employment as a full-time teacher is interrupted because the individual is the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who is relocated during the school year pursuant to military orders for a perma- nent change of duty station, or the individual works in a school of the defense dependents’ education system under the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 due to such a relocation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, and Mr. JONES) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide that an individual may remain eligible to participate in the teacher loan forgiveness program under title IV of such Act if the individual’s period of consecutive years of employment as a full-time teacher is interrupted be- cause the individual is the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who is relocated during the school year pursuant to military orders for a permanent change of duty station, or the individual works in a school of the defense dependents’ education system under the Defense VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 532 IS Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 due to such a reloca- tion, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Teacher 4 Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN STU- 6 DENT LOAN FORGIVENESS OR LOAN CAN- 7 CELLATION PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS 8 WHOSE PERIOD OF CONSECUTIVE EMPLOY- 9 MENT IS INTERRUPTED BECAUSE OF MILI- 10 TARY ORDERS REQUIRING SPOUSE TO RELO- 11 CATE TO NEW RESIDENCE, OR WHO WORK IN 12 A SCHOOL OF THE DEFENSE DEPENDENTS’ 13 EDUCATION SYSTEM DUE TO SUCH A RELO- 14 CATION. 15 (a) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.— 16 (1) PART B LOANS.—Section 428J(g) of the 17 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078– 18 10(g)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(4) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN 21 MILITARY SPOUSES.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 532 IS ‘‘(i) COMPLETE BUT NONCONSECU- 1 TIVE YEARS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 2 (1) of subsection (b), an individual who is 3 employed in a full-time teaching position 4 that meets the requirements of this section 5 for a period that includes 5 complete but 6 nonconsecutive years may be eligible for 7 loan forgiveness pursuant to such sub- 8 section, if the individual was a qualified 9 military spouse, as defined in subpara- 10 graph (B)(i), with respect to any year dur- 11 ing such period for which the individual 12 was not employed as a full-time teacher in 13 a school or location meeting the require- 14 ments of this section. 15 ‘‘(ii) EMPLOYMENT IN DEFENSE DE- 16 PARTMENT SCHOOLS.—Notwithstanding 17 paragraph (1) of subsection (b), an indi- 18 vidual may be eligible for loan forgiveness 19 pursuant to such subsection, if the indi- 20 vidual is a qualified military spouse, as de- 21 fined in subparagraph (B)(ii), and the in- 22 dividual has been employed as a full-time 23 teacher for 5 complete school years in a 24 school described in subparagraph (A) of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 532 IS subsection (b)(1) or in a school of the de- 1 fense dependents’ education system under 2 the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 3 1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) that is lo- 4 cated outside of the United States, and 5 met the requirements of subparagraph (B) 6 of subsection (b)(1). 7 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED MILITARY SPOUSE DE- 8 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘qualified 9 military spouse’ means— 10 ‘‘(i) with respect to a year, an indi- 11 vidual who— 12 ‘‘(I) during the previous year, 13 served as a teacher in a school or lo- 14 cation meeting the requirements of 15 subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(1) 16 and met the requirements of subpara- 17 graph (B) of subsection (b)(1); 18 ‘‘(II) is the spouse of a member 19 of the Armed Forces who is relocated 20 during the year pursuant to military 21 orders for a permanent change of 22 duty station; 23 ‘‘(III) did not serve as a teacher 24 in a school or location meeting the re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 532 IS quirements of subparagraph (A) of 1 subsection (b)(1) during the year or 2 any portion of the year because the 3 individual accompanied the spouse to 4 a new residence as a result of such 5 military orders; and 6 ‘‘(IV) during the following year, 7 resumed service as a teacher in a 8 school or location meeting the require- 9 ments of subparagraph (A) of sub- 10 section (b)(1) and met the require- 11 ments of subparagraph (B) of sub- 12 section (b)(1); or 13 ‘‘(ii) an individual who is the spouse 14 of a member of the Armed Forces who is 15 relocated overseas during a year of employ- 16 ment as a teacher for which the individual 17 seeks loan forgiveness under this section 18 pursuant to military orders for a change of 19 duty station and the individual accom- 20 panied the spouse to a new residence over- 21 seas as a result of such military orders. 22 ‘‘(C) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later 23 than 90 days after the end of the second aca- 24 demic year during which this paragraph is in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 532 IS effect, and every 2 years thereafter, the Sec- 1 retary shall submit to Congress a report de- 2 scribing the number of individuals who, as a re- 3 sult of this paragraph, remained eligible for 4 loan forgiveness pursuant to subsection (b) dur- 5 ing the 2 most recent academic years.’’. 6 (2) PART D LOANS.—Section 460(g) of the 7 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087j(g)) 8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(4) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN 10 MILITARY SPOUSES.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 12 ‘‘(i) COMPLETE BUT NONCONSECU- 13 TIVE YEARS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 14 (1) of subsection (b), an individual who is 15 employed in a full-time teaching position 16 that meets the requirements of this section 17 for a period that includes 5 complete but 18 nonconsecutive years may be eligible for 19 loan cancellation pursuant to such sub- 20 section, if the individual was a qualified 21 military spouse, as defined in subpara- 22 graph (B)(i), with respect to any year dur- 23 ing such period for which the individual 24 was not employed as a full-time teacher in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 532 IS a school or location meeting the require- 1 ments of this section. 2 ‘‘(ii) EMPLOYMENT IN DEFENSE DE- 3 PARTMENT SCHOOLS.—Notwithstanding 4 paragraph (1) of subsection (b), an indi- 5 vidual may be eligible for loan cancellation 6 pursuant to such subsection, if the indi- 7 vidual is a qualified military spouse, as de- 8 fined in subparagraph (B)(ii), and the in- 9 dividual has been employed as a full-time 10 teacher for 5 complete school years in a 11 school described in subparagraph (A) of 12 subsection (b)(1) or in a school of the de- 13 fense dependents’ education system under 14 the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 15 1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) that is lo- 16 cated outside of the United States, and 17 met the requirements of subparagraph (B) 18 of subsection (b)(1). 19 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED MILITARY SPOUSE DE- 20 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘qualified 21 military spouse’ means— 22 ‘‘(i) with respect to a year, an indi- 23 vidual who— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 532 IS ‘‘(I) during the previous year, 1 served as a teacher in a school or lo- 2 cation meeting the requirements of 3 subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(1) 4 and met the requirements of subpara- 5 graph (B) of subsection (b)(1); 6 ‘‘(II) is the spouse of a member 7 of the Armed Forces who is relocated 8 during the year pursuant to military 9 orders for a permanent change of 10 duty station; 11 ‘‘(III) did not serve as a teacher 12 in a school or location meeting the re- 13 quirements of subparagraph (A) of 14 subsection (b)(1) during the year or 15 any portion of the year because the 16 individual accompanied the spouse to 17 a new residence as a result of such 18 military orders; and 19 ‘‘(IV) during the following year, 20 resumed service as a teacher in a 21 school or location meeting the require- 22 ments of subparagraph (A) of sub- 23 section (b)(1) and met the require- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 532 IS ments of subparagraph (B) of sub- 1 section (b)(1); or 2 ‘‘(ii) an individual who is the spouse 3 of a member of the Armed Forces who is 4 relocated overseas during a year of employ- 5 ment as a teacher for which the individual 6 seeks loan forgiveness under this section 7 pursuant to military orders for a change of 8 duty station and the individual accom- 9 panied the spouse to a new residence over- 10 seas as a result of such military orders. 11 ‘‘(C) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later 12 than 90 days after the end of the second aca- 13 demic year during which this paragraph is in 14 effect, and every 2 years thereafter, the Sec- 15 retary shall submit to Congress a report de- 16 scribing the number of individuals who, as a re- 17 sult of this paragraph, remained eligible for 18 loan cancellation pursuant to subsection (b) 19 during the 2 most recent academic years.’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to individuals who 22 first become employed as full-time teachers on or after the 23 date of the enactment of this Act. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S532.IS S532 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS