I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2869 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand and rename the Troopsto-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 rename the Troops-to-Teachers Program, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heroes Entering Roles 

5 Of Education Service Act’’ or the ‘‘HEROES Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TROOPS-TO-SCHOOLS PROGRAM. 

7 Section 1154 of title 10, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in the section heading, by striking: ‘‘em10 ployment as teachers: Troops-to-Teachers 


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1 Program’’ and inserting ‘‘employment in 

2 schools: Troops-To-Support-Education 

3 Program’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘Troops6 to-Teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘Troops-To-Sup7 port-Education’’; 

8 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and 

9 (8) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; 

10 (C) by inserting after paragraph (6) the 

11 following new paragraphs: 

12 ‘‘(7) QUALIFYING POSITION.— 

13 ‘‘(A) Except as provided in subparagraph 

14 (B), the term ‘qualifying position’ means any 

15 full-time position in an eligible school, including 

16 a position as: 

17 ‘‘(i) a teacher, including an elemen18 tary school teacher, a secondary school 

19 teacher, or a career or technical education 

20 teacher; 

21 ‘‘(ii) a school resource officer; 

22 ‘‘(iii) a school leader; 

23 ‘‘(iv) specialized instructional support 

24 personnel; 

25 ‘‘(v) a paraprofessional; or 


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1 ‘‘(vi) other staff. 

2 ‘‘(B) Such term does not include a position 

3 that is— 

4 ‘‘(i) performed primarily at a location 

5 outside the grounds of an eligible school; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(ii) held by an individual who is em8 ployed by a contractor. 

9 ‘‘(8) SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER.—The term 

10 ‘school resource officer’ has the meaning given that 

11 term in section 1709(4) of the Omnibus Crime Con12 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

13 10389(4)).’’; and 

14 (D) by amending paragraph (10), as so re15 designated, to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(10) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—The terms ‘ele17 mentary school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘other 

18 staff’, ‘paraprofessional’, ‘school leader’, ‘secondary 

19 school’, ‘specialized instructional support personnel’, 

20 and ‘State’ have the meanings given those terms in 

21 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu22 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

2 by striking ‘‘Troops-to-Teachers’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘Troops-To-Support-Education’’; 

4 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘become 

5 a teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying 

6 position’’; and 

7 (C) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

8 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

9 the end; 

10 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

11 the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 

12 (iii) by adding at the end the fol13 lowing new clause: 

14 ‘‘(iii) experiencing a shortage of 

15 personnel to fill qualifying positions; 

16 and’’; 

17 (4) in subsection (d)(3)— 

18 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

19 subparagraph (E); and 

20 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

21 the following new subparagraph: 

22 ‘‘(D) If a member of the armed forces is apply23 ing for the Program to receive assistance for place24 ment in a qualifying position other than a position 

25 as a teacher described in subparagraph (B) or subVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869

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1 paragraph (C), the Secretary shall require the mem2 ber to obtain the professional credentials that are re3 quired by the State for the position involved.’’; 

4 (5) in subsection (e)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

6 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘become 

7 a teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a quali8 fying position’’; and 

9 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘as an 

10 elementary school teacher’’ and all that fol11 lows through the period at the end and in12 serting ‘‘in a qualifying position for not 

13 less than three school years in an eligible 

14 school to begin the school year after the 

15 member obtains the professional creden16 tials required for the position involved’’; 

17 (B) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking ‘‘as a 

18 teacher in an eligible elementary school or sec19 ondary school or as a career or technical teach20 er’’ and inserting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; 

21 and 

22 (C) in paragraph (3)— 

23 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

24 ‘‘educational level, certification, or licens25 ing’’ and inserting ‘‘educational level, cerVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2869.IH H2869

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1 tification, licensing, or other professional 

2 credentials’’; 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(i), by strik4 ing ‘‘as an elementary school teacher, sec5 ondary school teacher, or career or tech6 nical teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘in a quali7 fying position’’; and 

8 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 

9 (I) in clause (i), by striking 

10 ‘‘5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘7500’’; and 

11 (II) in clause (ii), by striking 

12 ‘‘3,000’’ and inserting ‘‘4500’’; 

13 (6) in subsection (f)(1)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

15 (i) by striking ‘‘become a teacher’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying posi17 tion’’; and 

18 (ii) by striking ‘‘as an elementary 

19 school teacher, secondary school teacher, or 

20 career or technical teacher’’ and insert ‘‘in 

21 a qualifying position’’; and 

22 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘, 

23 employment as an elementary school teacher, 

24 secondary school teacher, or career or technical 


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1 teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘employment in a quali2 fying position’’; 

3 (7) in subsection (h)(2)(A) by striking ‘‘as ele4 mentary school teachers, secondary school teachers, 

5 and career or technical teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘in 

6 qualifying positions’’; 

7 (8) in subsection (i), by striking ‘‘$15,000,000’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000’’; and 

9 (9) by adding at the end the following new sub10 section: 

11 ‘‘(j) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 

13 into one or more partnerships with nonprofit enti14 ties, including veterans service organizations, to as15 sist with the placement of participants in eligible 

16 schools in accordance with this section. 

17 ‘‘(2) NONPROFIT ENTITY DEFINED.—In this 

18 subsection, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ means an en19 tity qualifying as an exempt organization under sec20 tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT AND REFERENCES. 

23 (a) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections at 

24 the beginning of chapter 58 of such title is amended by 


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1 striking the item relating to section 1154 and inserting 

2 the following new item: 

‘‘1154. Assistance to eligible members and former members to obtain employment in schools: Troops-To-Support-Education Program.’’. 

3 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in Federal law 

4 (other than this Act), regulations, guidance, instructions, 

5 or other documents of the Federal Government to the 

6 Troops-to-Teachers Program shall be deemed to be a ref7 erence to the Troops-to-Schools Program. 

Æ 


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