Consider Teachers Act

116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1387 AN ACT To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to improve the service obligation verification process for TEACH Grant recipients, 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 2 † S 1387 ES SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consider Teachers 2 Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. TEACH GRANTS. 4 Section 420N of the Higher Education Act of 1965 5 (20 U.S.C. 1070g–2) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (b)(1)— 7 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(re- 8 ferred to in this section as the ‘service obliga- 9 tion window’)’’ after ‘‘under this subpart’’; 10 (B) in subparagraph (C)(vii), by inserting 11 ‘‘or geographic area’’ after ‘‘field’’; and 12 (C) by striking subparagraphs (D) and (E) 13 and inserting the following: 14 ‘‘(D) submit a certification of employment 15 by the chief administrative officer of the school 16 in accordance with subsection (d)(5); and 17 ‘‘(E) meet all State certification require- 18 ments for teaching (which may include meeting 19 such requirements through a certification ob- 20 tained through alternative routes to teaching);’’; 21 (2) in subsection (c)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘In the event’’ and insert- 23 ing the following: 24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the event’’; and 25 (B) by adding at the end the following: 26 3 † S 1387 ES ‘‘(2) RECONSIDERATION OF CONVERSION DECI- 1 SIONS.— 2 ‘‘(A) REQUEST TO RECONSIDER.—In any 3 case where the Secretary has determined that a 4 recipient of a grant under this subpart has 5 failed or refused to comply with the service obli- 6 gation in the agreement under subsection (b) 7 and has converted the grant into a Federal Di- 8 rect Unsubsidized Stafford Loan under part D 9 in accordance with paragraph (1), the recipient 10 may request that the Secretary reconsider such 11 initial determination and may submit additional 12 information to demonstrate satisfaction of the 13 service obligation. Upon receipt of such a re- 14 quest, the Secretary shall reconsider the deter- 15 mination in accordance with this paragraph not 16 later than 90 days after the date that such re- 17 quest was received. 18 ‘‘(B) RECONSIDERATION.—If, in reconsid- 19 ering an initial determination under subpara- 20 graph (A), the Secretary determines that the 21 reason for such determination was the recipi- 22 ent’s failure to timely submit a certification re- 23 quired under subsection (b)(1)(D) (as in effect 24 on the day before the date of enactment of the 25 4 † S 1387 ES Consider Teachers Act), an error or processing 1 delay by the Secretary, a change to the fields 2 considered eligible for fulfillment of the service 3 obligation (as described in subsection 4 (b)(1)(C)), a recipient having previously re- 5 quested to have the TEACH Grant converted to 6 a loan, or another valid reason determined by 7 the Secretary, and that the recipient has, as of 8 the date of the reconsideration, demonstrated 9 that the recipient did meet, or is meeting the 10 service obligation in the agreement under sub- 11 section (b), the Secretary shall— 12 ‘‘(i) discharge the Federal Direct Un- 13 subsidized Stafford Loan under part D, 14 and reinstate the recipient’s grant under 15 this subpart; 16 ‘‘(ii) discharge any interest or fees 17 that may have accumulated during the pe- 18 riod that the grant was converted to a 19 Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 20 Loan under part D; 21 ‘‘(iii) if the recipient has other loans 22 under part D, apply any payments made 23 for the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Staf- 24 5 † S 1387 ES ford Loan under part D during such pe- 1 riod to those other loans under part D; 2 ‘‘(iv) if the recipient does not have 3 other loans under part D, reimburse the 4 recipient for any amounts paid on the Fed- 5 eral Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan 6 under part D during such period; 7 ‘‘(v) request that consumer reporting 8 agencies remove any negative credit report- 9 ing due to the conversion of the TEACH 10 Grant to a loan; and 11 ‘‘(vi) use the additional information 12 provided under subparagraph (A) to deter- 13 mine the progress the recipient has made 14 in meeting the service obligation. 15 ‘‘(C) EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE 16 SERVICE OBLIGATION.—In the case of a recipi- 17 ent whose TEACH Grant was reinstated in ac- 18 cordance with subparagraph (B), the Secretary 19 shall, upon such reinstatement— 20 ‘‘(i) extend the time remaining for the 21 recipient to fulfill the service obligation de- 22 scribed in subsection (b)(1) to a period of 23 time equal to— 24 ‘‘(I) 8 years; minus 25 6 † S 1387 ES ‘‘(II) the number of full academic 1 years of teaching that the recipient 2 completed prior to the reconversion of 3 the loan to a TEACH Grant under 4 subparagraph (B), including any 5 years of qualifying teaching completed 6 during the period when the TEACH 7 Grant was in loan status; and 8 ‘‘(ii) treat any full academic years of 9 teaching described in clause (i)(II) as years 10 that count toward the individual’s service 11 obligation (regardless of whether the 12 TEACH Grant funds were in grant or loan 13 status) if that time otherwise meets the re- 14 quirements of this section.’’; and 15 (3) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 16 following: 17 ‘‘(3) COMMUNICATION WITH RECIPIENTS.—The 18 Secretary shall notify TEACH grant recipients not 19 less than once per calendar year regarding how to 20 submit the employment certification under sub- 21 section (b)(1)(D) and the recommendations and re- 22 quirements for submitting that certification under 23 subsection (d)(5). 24 7 † S 1387 ES ‘‘(4) QUALIFYING SCHOOLS AND HIGH-NEED 1 FIELDS.—The Secretary shall maintain and annually 2 update a list of qualifying schools as described in 3 subsection (b)(1)(B), and a list of high-need fields 4 as described in subsection (b)(1)(C) and shall make 5 such lists publicly available on the Department’s 6 website in a sortable and searchable format.’’. 7 SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATION. 8 Section 420N(d) of the Higher Education Act of 9 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g–2(d)), as amended by section 2, 10 is further amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(5) SUBMISSION OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFI- 12 CATION.— 13 ‘‘(A) RECOMMENDED SUBMISSIONS.—The 14 Secretary shall notify TEACH Grant recipients 15 that the Department recommends that TEACH 16 Grant recipients submit the employment certifi- 17 cation described in subsection (b)(1)(D) as soon 18 as practicable after the completion of each year 19 of service. 20 ‘‘(B) REQUIRED SUBMISSION.—A TEACH 21 Grant recipient shall be required to submit to 22 the Department employment certification within 23 the timeframe that would allow that individual 24 8 † S 1387 ES to complete their service obligation before the 1 end of the service obligation window. 2 ‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall 3 notify TEACH Grant recipients of the required 4 submission deadlines described in this para- 5 graph. 6 ‘‘(D) ADJUSTMENT OF DEADLINE.—The 7 Secretary shall adjust the submission deadline 8 described in subparagraph (B) to account for a 9 service obligation window extension. 10 ‘‘(E) ALTERNATIVE TO CERTIFICATION.— 11 The Secretary shall provide an alternative to 12 the certification of employment described in 13 subsection (b)(1)(D) for recipients who cannot 14 obtain such required certification of employ- 15 ment from the chief administrative officer of 16 the school because the recipient can dem- 17 onstrate the school is no longer in existence or 18 the school refuses to cooperate.’’. 19 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF TIME TO FULFILL SERVICE OBLIGA- 20 TION DUE TO COVID–19. 21 (a) Section 3519(a) of the CARES Act (Public Law 22 116–136; 20 U.S.C. 1001 note) is amended— 23 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 24 striking ‘‘For the purpose of section 420N of the 25 9 † S 1387 ES Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g– 1 2), during a qualifying emergency,’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘Notwithstanding any provision of subpart 9 of part 3 A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 4 (20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.),’’; 5 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 6 the semicolon; 7 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘such section 8 420N.’’ and inserting ‘‘section 420N of such Act; 9 and’’; and 10 (4) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(3) shall extend the service obligation window 12 (as described in section 420N(b)(1)(A) of such Act) 13 for a period of not more than 3 years, in addition 14 to any extensions provided in accordance with sub- 15 part 9 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education 16 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.), in the case 17 of a grant recipient whose service obligation window 18 begins during, or includes— 19 ‘‘(A) the qualifying emergency period; or 20 ‘‘(B) a period of recession or economic 21 downturn related to the qualifying emergency 22 period, as determined by the Secretary in con- 23 sultation with the Secretary of Labor.’’. 24 10 † S 1387 ES (b) Section 3519 of the CARES Act (Public Law 1 116–136; 20 U.S.C. 1001 note) is amended by adding at 2 the end the following: 3 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL PERKINS LOANS.—Notwithstanding 4 section 465 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 5 U.S.C. 1087ee), the Secretary shall waive the require- 6 ments of such section in regard to full-time service and 7 shall consider an incomplete year of service of a borrower 8 as fulfilling the requirement for a complete year of service 9 under such section, if the service was interrupted due to 10 a qualifying emergency.’’. 11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 12 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact- 13 ment of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136). 14 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION. 15 In carrying out this Act and any amendments made 16 by this Act, or any regulations promulgated under this Act 17 or under such amendments, the Secretary of Education 18 may waive the application of— 19 (1) subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, 20 United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Pa- 21 perwork Reduction Act’’); 22 (2) the master calendar requirements under 23 section 482 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 24 (20 U.S.C. 1089); 25 11 † S 1387 ES (3) negotiated rulemaking under section 492 of 1 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2 1098a); and 3 (4) the requirement to publish the notices re- 4 lated to the system of records of the agency before 5 implementation required under paragraphs (4) and 6 (11) of section 552a(e) of title 5, United States 7 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of 8 1974’’), except that the notices shall be published 9 not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 10 of this Act. 11 Passed the Senate December 16, 2020. Attest: Secretary. 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1387 AN ACT To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to improve the service obligation verification process for TEACH Grant recipients, and for other purposes.