[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 670 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 670

   To make permanent the teacher loan forgiveness provisions of the 
    Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act of 2004, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2005

 Mr. Wilson of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To make permanent the teacher loan forgiveness provisions of the 
    Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act of 2004, 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 ``Teacher Recruitment and Retention 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY.

    Section 3(b) of the Taxpayer-Teacher Protection Act of 2004 is 
amended by striking paragraph (3).

SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF LOAN FORGIVENESS TO CERTAIN SPECIAL EDUCATION 
              PERSONNEL.

    (a) FFEL Loans.--Section 428J(g) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078-10(g)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Treatment of speech-language pathologists as 
        teachers.--For the purposes of this section--
                    ``(A) a speech-language pathologist who is employed 
                full-time to perform services principally in a school 
                described in subsection (b)(1)(A) shall be treated as 
                employed full-time as a teacher in such school;
                    ``(B) such a speech-language pathologist who has, 
                at a minimum, a graduate degree in speech-language 
                pathology, or communication sciences and disorders, 
                shall be treated as a highly qualified teacher for 
                purposes of subsection (b)(1)(B); and
                    ``(C) a speech-language pathologist who meets the 
                requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this 
                paragraph, shall be treated as a special education 
                teacher whose primary responsibility is to provide 
                special education or related services to children with 
                disabilities (as those terms are defined in section 602 
                of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).''.
    (b) Direct Loans.--Section 460(g) of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1087j(g)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Treatment of speech-language pathologists as 
        teachers.--For the purposes of this section--
                    ``(A) a speech-language pathologist who is employed 
                full-time to perform services principally in a school 
                described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i) shall be treated 
                as employed full-time as a teacher in such school;
                    ``(B) such a speech-language pathologist who has, 
                at a minimum, a graduate degree in speech-language 
                pathology, or communication sciences and disorders, 
                shall be treated as a highly qualified teacher for 
                purposes of subsection (b)(1)(A)(ii); and
                    ``(C) a speech-language pathologist who meets the 
                requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this 
                paragraph, shall be treated as a special education 
                teacher whose primary responsibility is to provide 
                special education or related services to children with 
                disabilities (as those terms are defined in section 602 
                of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).''.
                                 <all>