HEROES Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2869 To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand and rename the Troops- to-Teachers Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. DUFFY (for himself and Ms. GABBARD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand and re- name the Troops-to-Teachers Program, 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 ‘‘Heroes Entering Roles 4 Of Education Service Act’’ or the ‘‘HEROES Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TROOPS-TO-SCHOOLS PROGRAM. 6 Section 1154 of title 10, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 (1) in the section heading, by striking: ‘‘em- 9 ployment as teachers: Troops-to-Teachers 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2869 IH Program’’ and inserting ‘‘employment in 1 schools: Troops-To-Support-Education 2 Program’’; 3 (2) in subsection (a)— 4 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘Troops- 5 to-Teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘Troops-To-Sup- 6 port-Education’’; 7 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and 8 (8) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; 9 (C) by inserting after paragraph (6) the 10 following new paragraphs: 11 ‘‘(7) QUALIFYING POSITION.— 12 ‘‘(A) Except as provided in subparagraph 13 (B), the term ‘qualifying position’ means any 14 full-time position in an eligible school, including 15 a position as: 16 ‘‘(i) a teacher, including an elemen- 17 tary school teacher, a secondary school 18 teacher, or a career or technical education 19 teacher; 20 ‘‘(ii) a school resource officer; 21 ‘‘(iii) a school leader; 22 ‘‘(iv) specialized instructional support 23 personnel; 24 ‘‘(v) a paraprofessional; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2869 IH ‘‘(vi) other staff. 1 ‘‘(B) Such term does not include a position 2 that is— 3 ‘‘(i) performed primarily at a location 4 outside the grounds of an eligible school; 5 or 6 ‘‘(ii) held by an individual who is em- 7 ployed by a contractor. 8 ‘‘(8) SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER.—The term 9 ‘school resource officer’ has the meaning given that 10 term in section 1709(4) of the Omnibus Crime Con- 11 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 12 10389(4)).’’; and 13 (D) by amending paragraph (10), as so re- 14 designated, to read as follows: 15 ‘‘(10) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—The terms ‘ele- 16 mentary school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘other 17 staff’, ‘paraprofessional’, ‘school leader’, ‘secondary 18 school’, ‘specialized instructional support personnel’, 19 and ‘State’ have the meanings given those terms in 20 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).’’; 22 (3) in subsection (b)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2869 IH (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 1 by striking ‘‘Troops-to-Teachers’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘Troops-To-Support-Education’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘become 4 a teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying 5 position’’; and 6 (C) in paragraph (2)(A)— 7 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 8 the end; 9 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10 the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing new clause: 13 ‘‘(iii) experiencing a shortage of 14 personnel to fill qualifying positions; 15 and’’; 16 (4) in subsection (d)(3)— 17 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 18 subparagraph (E); and 19 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 20 the following new subparagraph: 21 ‘‘(D) If a member of the armed forces is apply- 22 ing for the Program to receive assistance for place- 23 ment in a qualifying position other than a position 24 as a teacher described in subparagraph (B) or sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2869 IH paragraph (C), the Secretary shall require the mem- 1 ber to obtain the professional credentials that are re- 2 quired by the State for the position involved.’’; 3 (5) in subsection (e)— 4 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 5 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘become 6 a teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a quali- 7 fying position’’; and 8 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘as an 9 elementary school teacher’’ and all that fol- 10 lows through the period at the end and in- 11 serting ‘‘in a qualifying position for not 12 less than three school years in an eligible 13 school to begin the school year after the 14 member obtains the professional creden- 15 tials required for the position involved’’; 16 (B) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking ‘‘as a 17 teacher in an eligible elementary school or sec- 18 ondary school or as a career or technical teach- 19 er’’ and inserting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; 20 and 21 (C) in paragraph (3)— 22 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 23 ‘‘educational level, certification, or licens- 24 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘educational level, cer- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2869 IH tification, licensing, or other professional 1 credentials’’; 2 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i), by strik- 3 ing ‘‘as an elementary school teacher, sec- 4 ondary school teacher, or career or tech- 5 nical teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘in a quali- 6 fying position’’; and 7 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 8 (I) in clause (i), by striking 9 ‘‘5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘7500’’; and 10 (II) in clause (ii), by striking 11 ‘‘3,000’’ and inserting ‘‘4500’’; 12 (6) in subsection (f)(1)— 13 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 14 (i) by striking ‘‘become a teacher’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying posi- 16 tion’’; and 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘as an elementary 18 school teacher, secondary school teacher, or 19 career or technical teacher’’ and insert ‘‘in 20 a qualifying position’’; and 21 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘, 22 employment as an elementary school teacher, 23 secondary school teacher, or career or technical 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2869 IH teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘employment in a quali- 1 fying position’’; 2 (7) in subsection (h)(2)(A) by striking ‘‘as ele- 3 mentary school teachers, secondary school teachers, 4 and career or technical teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘in 5 qualifying positions’’; 6 (8) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘$15,000,000’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000’’; and 8 (9) by adding at the end the following new sub- 9 section: 10 ‘‘(j) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 12 into one or more partnerships with nonprofit enti- 13 ties, including veterans service organizations, to as- 14 sist with the placement of participants in eligible 15 schools in accordance with this section. 16 ‘‘(2) NONPROFIT ENTITY DEFINED.—In this 17 subsection, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ means an en- 18 tity qualifying as an exempt organization under sec- 19 tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 20 1986.’’. 21 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT AND REFERENCES. 22 (a) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections at 23 the beginning of chapter 58 of such title is amended by 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2869 IH striking the item relating to section 1154 and inserting 1 the following new item: 2 ‘‘1154. Assistance to eligible members and former members to obtain employ- ment in schools: Troops-To-Support-Education Program.’’. (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in Federal law 3 (other than this Act), regulations, guidance, instructions, 4 or other documents of the Federal Government to the 5 Troops-to-Teachers Program shall be deemed to be a ref- 6 erence to the Troops-to-Schools Program. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS