HEROES Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2248 To amend title 10, United States Code, to redesignate and expand the Troops-to-Teachers Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 24, 2019 Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to redesignate and expand 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. REDESIGNATION AND EXPANSION OF TROOPS-TO- 6 TEACHERS PROGRAM. 7 (a) REDESIGNATION AS TROOPS-TO-SUPPORT-EDU- 8 CATION PROGRAM.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Jul 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2248 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1154 of title 10, 1 United States Code, is amended— 2 (A) in subsection (a)(6), by striking 3 ‘‘Troops-to-Teachers Program’’ and inserting 4 ‘‘Troops-to-Support-Education Program’’; and 5 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Troops- 6 to-Teachers Program’’ and inserting ‘‘Troops- 7 to-Support-Education Program’’. 8 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in Federal 9 law (other than this Act), regulations, guidance, in- 10 structions, or other documents of the Federal Gov- 11 ernment to the Troops-to-Teachers Program shall be 12 deemed to be a reference to the Troops-to-Support- 13 Education Program. 14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (a) of such section is 15 further amended— 16 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 17 paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; 18 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 19 lowing new paragraphs: 20 ‘‘(7) QUALIFYING POSITION.—(A) Except as 21 provided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘qualifying 22 position’ means any full-time position in an eligible 23 school, including a position as— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2248 IS ‘‘(i) a teacher, including an elementary 1 school teacher, a secondary school teacher, or a 2 career or technical education teacher; 3 ‘‘(ii) a school resource officer; 4 ‘‘(iii) a school leader; 5 ‘‘(iv) specialized instructional support per- 6 sonnel; 7 ‘‘(v) a paraprofessional; or 8 ‘‘(vi) other staff. 9 ‘‘(B) Such term does not include a position that 10 is— 11 ‘‘(i) performed primarily at a location out- 12 side the grounds of an eligible school; or 13 ‘‘(ii) held by an individual who is employed 14 by a contractor. 15 ‘‘(8) SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER.—The term 16 ‘school resource officer’ has the meaning given that 17 term in section 1709(4) of the Omnibus Crime Con- 18 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 19 10389(4)).’’; and 20 (3) by amending paragraph (10), as redesig- 21 nated by paragraph (1) of this subsection, to read 22 as follows: 23 ‘‘(10) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—The terms ‘ele- 24 mentary school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘other 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2248 IS staff’, ‘paraprofessional’, ‘school leader’, ‘secondary 1 school’, ‘specialized instructional support personnel’, 2 and ‘State’ have the meanings given those terms in 3 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).’’. 5 (c) EXPANSION OF PROGRAM GENERALLY.—Sub- 6 section (b) of such section is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘become a 8 teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying posi- 9 tion’’; and 10 (2) in paragraph (2)(A)— 11 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 12 end; 13 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 14 end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 15 (C) by adding at the end the following new 16 clause: 17 ‘‘(iii) experiencing a shortage of 18 personnel to fill qualifying positions; 19 and’’. 20 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPANTS.—Sub- 21 section (d)(3) of such section is amended— 22 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub- 23 paragraph (E); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2248 IS (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol- 1 lowing new subparagraph (D): 2 ‘‘(D) If a member of the armed forces is apply- 3 ing for the Program to receive assistance for place- 4 ment in a qualifying position other than a position 5 as a teacher described in subparagraph (B) or (C), 6 the Secretary shall require the member to obtain the 7 professional credentials that are required by the 8 State for the position involved.’’. 9 (e) PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT AND ASSISTANCE.— 10 Subsection (e) of such section is amended— 11 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 12 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘become a 13 teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying po- 14 sition’’; and 15 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘as an ele- 16 mentary school teacher’’ and all that follows 17 through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘in 18 a qualifying position for not less than three 19 school years in an eligible school to begin the 20 school year after the member obtains the pro- 21 fessional credentials required for the position 22 involved.’’; 23 (2) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking ‘‘as a 24 teacher in an eligible elementary school or secondary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2248 IS school or as a career or technical teacher’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; and 2 (3) in paragraph (3)— 3 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘edu- 4 cational level, certification, or licensing’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘educational level, certification, licens- 6 ing, or other professional credentials’’; 7 (B) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking 8 ‘‘as an elementary school teacher, secondary 9 school teacher, or career or technical teacher’’ 10 and inserting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; and 11 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 12 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘5,000’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘7,500’’; and 14 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3,000’’ 15 and inserting ‘‘4,500’’. 16 (f) REIMBURSEMENT.—Subsection (f)(1) of such sec- 17 tion is amended— 18 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 19 (A) by striking ‘‘become a teacher’’ and in- 20 serting ‘‘obtain a qualifying position’’; and 21 (B) by striking ‘‘as an elementary school 22 teacher, secondary school teacher, or career or 23 technical teacher’’ and insert ‘‘in a qualifying 24 position’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2248 IS (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘, employ- 1 ment as an elementary school teacher, secondary 2 school teacher, or career or technical teacher’’ and 3 inserting ‘‘employment in a qualifying position’’. 4 (g) PARTICIPATION BY STATES.—Subsection 5 (h)(2)(A) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘as ele- 6 mentary school teachers, secondary school teachers, and 7 career or technical teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘in qualifying 8 positions’’. 9 (h) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.—Such section 10 is further amended— 11 (1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 12 (j); and 13 (2) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol- 14 lowing new subsection (i): 15 ‘‘(i) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 17 into one or more partnerships with nonprofit enti- 18 ties, including veterans service organizations, to as- 19 sist with the placement of participants in eligible 20 schools in accordance with this section. 21 ‘‘(2) NONPROFIT ENTITY DEFINED.—In this 22 subsection, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ means an en- 23 tity qualifying as an exempt organization under sec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2248 IS tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1 1986.’’. 2 (i) FUNDING LIMITATION.—Subsection (j) of such 3 section, as redesignated by subsection (h)(1) of this sec- 4 tion, is amended by striking ‘‘$15,000,000’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘$20,000,000’’. 6 (j) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) HEADING AMENDMENT.—The heading of 8 such section is amended to read as follows: 9 ‘‘§ 1154. Assistance to eligible members and former 10 members to obtain employment in 11 schools: Troops-to-Support-Education 12 Program’’. 13 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 14 at the beginning of chapter 58 of such title is 15 amended by striking the item relating to section 16 1154 and inserting the following new item: 17 ‘‘1154. Assistance to eligible members and former members to obtain employ- ment in schools: Troops-to-Support-Education Program.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS