[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 130 (Monday, July 26, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H3851-H3854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONSIDER TEACHERS ACT OF 2021

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (S. 848) 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 Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 848

       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'';

[[Page H3852]]

       (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 
     subsection (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 
     following:
       ``(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 may submit 
     additional information to demonstrate satisfaction 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 converted 
     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 determines 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 determined 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 recipient's grant under 
     this subpart;
       ``(ii) discharge any interest or fees that may have 
     accumulated during the period that the grant was converted 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 conversion 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 obligation.--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 subparagraph (B), including any years 
     of qualifying 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 requirements 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 certification 
     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 
     qualifying 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 recommends that 
     TEACH Grant recipients submit the employment 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 employment 
     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 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 accordance 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 
     Secretary 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 1974''), except that the notices shall be published 
     not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
     Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Spartz) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.

[[Page H3853]]

  



                             General Leave

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on S. 848, the Consider Teachers Act of 
2021.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 848, the Consider Teachers 
Act, introduced by Senators Braun and Sinema in the Senate, and led by 
Delegate Holmes Norton and Representative Spartz in the House.
  High quality teachers are the backbone of our Nation's education 
system. Yet, since even before the COVID-19 pandemic, communities 
across the country, particularly low-income communities, have faced a 
growing shortage of educators.

                              {time}  1415

  To address this shortage, the Teacher Education Assistance for 
College and Higher Education grant program, or the TEACH grant program, 
offers upfront grant aid to incentivize individuals to pursue teaching 
and serve in low-income communities.
  Since 2007 these grants have helped people across the country become 
high-quality teachers in the communities where they are needed most. 
However, administrative issues with the program have inadvertently 
converted thousands of these grants into loans which must be paid back 
with interest. According to an investigative report in 2016, upwards of 
63 percent of TEACH grants had been converted to loans, leaving badly 
needed teachers with burdensome debt.
  The bipartisan bill we are considering today addresses these issues 
in two key ways: First, it implements a reconsideration process to 
ensure TEACH grant recipients do not see their grants converted into 
loans by mistake; and, second, the bill creates flexibility so that 
teachers can still fulfill the grant's requirements in light of school 
closures and disruptions caused by the pandemic.
  Simply put, the Consider Teachers Act is a bipartisan legislative fix 
which will ensure TEACH grants can continue to strengthen and expand 
our Nation's teacher workforce.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mrs. SPARTZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Consider Teachers Act. When 
created, the TEACH grant program was to support students interested in 
becoming teachers. Unfortunately, the grant program has run into 
administrative challenges brought on by clerical and paperwork issues. 
Because of these issues, approximately two-thirds of all TEACH grants 
are converting into Federal student loans.
  To address these inadvertent errors, the Consider Teachers Act 
reforms the program to ensure that teachers are not indebted due to 
simple mistakes. First, the legislation gives grant recipients the 
ability to reverse a conversion and eases the timeline for when the 
grant recipients must certify their employment with the Department of 
Education.
  Second, the bill also extends the time grant recipients have to 
fulfill their service obligation in response to the challenges posed by 
the pandemic. The pandemic upended all of our lives, and teachers who 
lost their job shouldn't be unfairly punished for circumstances outside 
of their control.
  Mr. Speaker, with the TEACH grant program, the Federal Government 
made a commitment to future teachers, and the Consider Teachers Act 
fulfills the original promise of the program. I urge all Members to 
support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 848, the Consider 
Teachers Act of 2021. I introduced the companion bill with 
Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. I would like to thank Senators Mike 
Braun and Kyrsten Sinema also for their leadership on this bill, and my 
good friend, Chairman  Bobby Scott, for bringing this bill to the floor 
today.
  This bill would improve the service obligation verification process 
for the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education 
Grant Program, or TEACH grant program, as it is called. The TEACH grant 
program was created to attract the best and brightest to the teaching 
profession in underserved communities. The TEACH grant program provides 
up to $4,000 a year in grants to students who agree to serve for at 
least 4 years as full-time teachers in a high-need field in a public or 
private elementary or secondary school that serves low-income families. 
The obligation to teach 4 years must be completed within an 8-year 
period. Those who do not fulfill their service requirement have their 
grants converted into Federal direct unsubsidized Stafford loans which 
must be paid back with interest. These loans cannot revert to grants.
  According to the Office of Management and Budget, 66 percent of the 
grants are converted into loans. Though 21,000 grant recipients have 
completed the program without conversion, 94,000 recipients have had 
their grants converted to loans. Those conversions are often triggered 
by small paperwork issues, such as submitting the annual form 1 day 
late or missing a date or signature.
  In 2018, the U.S. Department of Education released a reconsideration 
process for recipients who had their grants converted into loans but 
had either fulfilled, or could still fulfill, their service 
obligations. The department also turned back the clock to allow 
teachers who had left the TEACH grant program once their grants were 
converted to loans to give them more time to complete their service 
obligations. These changes allowed the department to lift the debt of 
2,300 recipients.
  I am pleased that the department made additional improvements to the 
program on July 1, 2021, including opening the reconsideration process 
to all TEACH grant program recipients. This bill would codify some of 
these changes, creating a safeguard from changes in 
department leadership.

  This bill would also outline yearly deadlines and notification 
requirements to rectify some of the TEACH grant program's previous 
administrative mishaps. Furthermore, with the onset of the coronavirus 
pandemic, many recipients have had trouble finding qualifying work. 
This bill would create a grace period for those individuals by 
extending the service obligation fulfillment period by 3 years for 
anyone who was fulfilling their obligations when the coronavirus 
pandemic began.
  This past year has given us all a hard lesson in the invaluable 
service that teachers and educators provide to our society. As many 
young students have turned to homeschooling and remote learning, we 
have all come to appreciate the hard work and incredible talent of our 
teachers who foster the mental, physical, and emotional growth of our 
children every day. This bill ensures that that pipeline of talent for 
the teaching profession remains strong and that we do not unduly burden 
TEACH grant program recipients who have dedicated themselves to serving 
our most vulnerable communities.
  I understand what that means because my own mother, Vela Holmes, was 
a teacher in the D.C. Public Schools.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan 
bill.
  Mrs. SPARTZ. In closing, Mr. Speaker, the TEACH grant program fails 
too many of our teachers, and it needs to be fixed. It is important 
that our Federal Government honors its promises. The Consider Teachers 
Act creates flexibility and streamlines processes.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote in favor of this bill. Strong 
teachers are essential for high-quality learning.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate again my thanks to Representative 
Spartz and Delegate Norton for working across the aisle on this 
bipartisan priority in the House.
  As my colleagues have reiterated, the TEACH grant program is supposed 
to

[[Page H3854]]

help prepare high quality and diverse educators for our Nation's 
underserved students. Today it is critical that the TEACH grant program 
actually works as intended as we recover from a global health emergency 
that cost education jobs, exacerbated achievement gaps, and worsened 
the teacher shortage in many States and districts. That is why we must 
ensure that Federal initiatives to strengthen the teacher workforce 
make it easier, not harder, for individuals to enter the teaching 
profession.
  The Consider Teaching Act would help achieve this goal by ensuring 
that TEACH grants do not have the unintended effect of leaving 
educators with burdensome loans. This simple yet urgent step will allow 
prospective teachers across the country to continue accessing the 
resources they need to pursue careers in teaching.
  Importantly, this bill is an opportunity to demonstrate that 
regardless of party affiliation, each of us in Congress shares a 
commitment to improving the quality of education by investing in well-
prepared teachers.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, again, to support the bill and 
vote for the Consider Teachers Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 848.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BIGGS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution 
8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
  Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion 
are postponed.

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