S. 848 — Consider Teachers Act of 2021
Summary
Senate bill S. 848 of the 117th Congress, in enrolled form, is 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. The short title is the ‘‘Consider Teachers Act of 2021’’. Section 2 amends section 420N, including a certification of employment by the chief administrative officer of the school. A recipient whose TEACH Grant was converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan may ask the Secretary to reconsider, and the Secretary must reconsider not later than 90 days after receiving the request. A later section amends section 3519 of the CARES Act on Federal Perkins Loans.
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“S. 848 — Consider Teachers Act of 2021.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/bills-bills-117s848enr-bills-117s848enr/
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S. 848
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT T H E F I R S T S E S S I O N
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Sunday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty one
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 Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consider Teachers Act of 2021’’.
SEC. 2. TEACH GRANTS.
Section 420N of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1070g–2) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)(1)—
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(referred to in
this section as the ‘service obligation window’)’’ after ‘‘under
this subpart’’;
(B) in subparagraph (C)(vii), by inserting ‘‘or
geographic area’’ after ‘‘field’’; and
(C) by striking subparagraphs (D) and (E) and inserting
the following:
‘‘(D) submit a certification of employment by the chief
administrative officer of the school in accordance with sub-
section (d)(5); and
‘‘(E) meet all State certification requirements for
teaching (which may include meeting such requirements
through a certification obtained through alternative routes
to teaching);’’;
(2) in subsection (c)—
(A) by striking ‘‘In the event’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the event’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) RECONSIDERATION OF CONVERSION DECISIONS.—
‘‘(A) REQUEST TO RECONSIDER.—In any case where the
Secretary has determined that a recipient of a grant under
this subpart has failed or refused to comply with the service
obligation in the agreement under subsection (b) and has
converted the grant into a Federal Direct Unsubsidized
Stafford Loan under part D in accordance with paragraph
(1), (including a TEACH Grant converted to a loan prior
to the date of enactment of the Consider Teachers Act
of 2021 and including cases where such loans have been
fully or partially paid), the recipient may request that
the Secretary reconsider such initial determination and
S. 848—2
may submit additional information to demonstrate satisfac-
tion of the service obligation. Upon receipt of such a
request, the Secretary shall reconsider the determination
in accordance with this paragraph not later than 90 days
after the date that such request was received.
‘‘(B) RECONSIDERATION.—If, in reconsidering an initial
determination under subparagraph (A) (including
reconsideration related to a TEACH Grant that was con-
verted to a loan prior to the date of enactment of the
Consider Teachers Act of 2021 and including cases where
such loans were fully or partially paid), the Secretary deter-
mines that the reason for such determination was the
recipient’s failure to timely submit a certification required
under subsection (b)(1)(D) (as in effect on the day before
the date of enactment of the Consider Teachers Act of
2021), an error or processing delay by the Secretary, a
change to the fields considered eligible for fulfillment of
the service obligation (as described in subsection (b)(1)(C)),
a recipient having previously requested to have the TEACH
Grant converted to a loan, or another valid reason deter-
mined by the Secretary, and that the recipient has, as
of the date of the reconsideration, demonstrated that the
recipient did meet, or is meeting the service obligation
in the agreement under subsection (b), the Secretary
shall—
‘‘(i) discharge the Federal Direct Unsubsidized
Stafford Loan under part D, and reinstate the recipi-
ent’s grant under this subpart;
‘‘(ii) discharge any interest or fees that may have
accumulated during the period that the grant was con-
verted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
under part D;
‘‘(iii) if the recipient has other loans under part
D, apply any payments made for the Federal Direct
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan under part D during such
period to those other loans under part D;
‘‘(iv) if the recipient does not have other loans
under part D, reimburse the recipient for any amounts
paid on the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
under part D during such period;
‘‘(v) request that consumer reporting agencies
remove any negative credit reporting due to the conver-
sion of the TEACH Grant to a loan; and
‘‘(vi) use the additional information provided under
subparagraph (A) to determine the progress the
recipient has made in meeting the service obligation.
‘‘(C) EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE SERVICE OBLIGA-
TION.—In the case of a recipient whose TEACH Grant
was reinstated in accordance with subparagraph (B), the
Secretary shall, upon such reinstatement—
‘‘(i) extend the time remaining for the recipient
to fulfill the service obligation described in subsection
(b)(1) to a period of time equal to—
‘‘(I) 8 years; minus
‘‘(II) the number of full academic years of
teaching that the recipient completed prior to the
reconversion of the loan to a TEACH Grant under
S. 848—3
subparagraph (B), including any years of quali-
fying teaching completed during the period when
the TEACH Grant was in loan status; and
‘‘(ii) treat any full academic years of teaching
described in clause (i)(II) as years that count toward
the individual’s service obligation (regardless of
whether the TEACH Grant funds were in grant or
loan status) if that time otherwise meets the require-
ments of this section.’’; and
(3) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) COMMUNICATION WITH RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary
shall notify TEACH grant recipients not less than once per
calendar year regarding how to submit the employment certifi-
cation under subsection (b)(1)(D) and the recommendations and
requirements for submitting that certification under subsection
(d)(5).
‘‘(4) QUALIFYING SCHOOLS AND HIGH-NEED FIELDS.—The
Secretary shall maintain and annually update a list of quali-
fying schools as described in subsection (b)(1)(B), and a list
of high-need fields as described in subsection (b)(1)(C) and
shall make such lists publicly available on the Department’s
website in a sortable and searchable format.’’.
SEC. 3. SUBMISSION OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATION.
Section 420N(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1070g–2(d)), as amended by section 2, is further amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(5) SUBMISSION OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATION.—
‘‘(A) RECOMMENDED SUBMISSIONS.—The Secretary shall
notify TEACH Grant recipients that the Department rec-
ommends that TEACH Grant recipients submit the employ-
ment certification described in subsection (b)(1)(D) as soon
as practicable after the completion of each year of service.
‘‘(B) REQUIRED SUBMISSION.—A TEACH Grant
recipient shall be required to submit to the Department
employment certification within the timeframe that would
allow that individual to complete their service obligation
before the end of the service obligation window.
‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall notify TEACH
Grant recipients of the required submission deadlines
described in this paragraph.
‘‘(D) ADJUSTMENT OF DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall
adjust the submission deadline described in subparagraph
(B) to account for a service obligation window extension.
‘‘(E) ALTERNATIVE TO CERTIFICATION.—The Secretary
shall provide an alternative to the certification of employ-
ment described in subsection (b)(1)(D) for recipients who
cannot obtain such required certification of employment
from the chief administrative officer of the school because
the recipient can demonstrate the school is no longer in
existence or the school refuses to cooperate.’’.
SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF TIME TO FULFILL SERVICE OBLIGATION DUE
TO COVID–19.
(a) Section 3519(a) of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136;
20 U.S.C. 1001 note) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘For
the purpose of section 420N of the Higher Education Act of
S. 848—4
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g–2), during a qualifying emergency,’’ and
inserting ‘‘Notwithstanding any provision of subpart 9 of part
A of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1070g et seq.),’’;
(2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon;
(3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘such section 420N.’’ and
inserting ‘‘section 420N of such Act; and’’; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) shall extend the service obligation window (as described
in section 420N(b)(1)(A) of such Act) for a period of not more
than 3 years, in addition to any extensions provided in accord-
ance with subpart 9 of part A of title IV of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070g et seq.), in the case of a grant
recipient whose service obligation window begins during, or
includes—
‘‘(A) the qualifying emergency period; or
‘‘(B) a period of recession or economic downturn related
to the qualifying emergency period, as determined by the
Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Labor.’’.
(b) Section 3519 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136; 20
U.S.C. 1001 note) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(c) FEDERAL PERKINS LOANS.—Notwithstanding section 465
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087ee), the Sec-
retary shall waive the requirements of such section in regard to
full-time service and shall consider an incomplete year of service
of a borrower as fulfilling the requirement for a complete year
of service under such section, if the service was interrupted due
to a qualifying emergency.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this section
shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the CARES
Act (Public Law 116–136).
SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION.
In carrying out this Act and any amendments made by this
Act, or any regulations promulgated under this Act or under such
amendments, the Secretary of Education may waive the application
of—
(1) subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States
Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’);
(2) the master calendar requirements under section 482
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1089);
(3) negotiated rulemaking under section 492 of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1098a); and
(4) the requirement to publish the notices related to the
system of records of the agency before implementation required
under paragraphs (4) and (11) of section 552a(e) of title 5,
United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Privacy Act of
S. 848—5
1974’’), except that the notices shall be published not later
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
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