II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1029

To provide loan forgiveness for individuals who earn a degree in early childhood education, and enter and remain employed in the early child care

profession, to provide loan cancellation for certain child care providers,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 17, 1997

Mr. DEWINE (for himself and Mr. WELLSTONE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and

Human Resources

A BILL

To provide loan forgiveness for individuals who earn a degree

in early childhood education, and enter and remain employed in the early child care profession, to provide loan

cancellation for certain child care providers, 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 ‘‘Quality Child Care

5 Loan Forgiveness Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) New scientific research shows that the elec2 trical activity of brain cells actually changes the

3 physical structure of the brain, and that without a

4 stimulating environment, a baby’s brain suffers.

5 (2) 12,000,000 children under age 6, and

6 17,000,000 school-aged children of working parents,

7 need child care. Demand for child care is growing as

8 more mothers enter the workforce.

9 (3) Good quality child care, in a safe environ10 ment, with trained, caring providers who offer stim11 ulating activities appropriate to the child’s age, help

12 children grow and thrive. Recent research shows

13 that most child care needs significant improvement.

14 (4) Good quality child care depends largely on

15 the provider. Yet providers of child care earn on av16 erage only $6.70 per hour or $11,725 per year. Such

17 earnings cause high turnover, which affects the over18 all quality of a child care program and causes anxi19 ety for children.

20 (5) Children attending lower-quality child care

21 facilities and child care facilities with high staff

22 turnover are less competent in language and social

23 development.
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1 (6) Low-income and high-income children are

2 more likely than middle-income children to attend

3 child care facilities providing high quality child care.

4 (7) The quality of child care is primarily related

5 to high staff-to-child ratios, staff education, and ad6 ministrators’ prior experience. In addition, certain

7 characteristics distinguish poor, mediocre, and good8 quality child care facilities, the most important of

9 which are teacher wages, education, and specialized

10 training.

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

12 The purposes of this Act are—

13 (1) to bring more highly trained individuals into

14 the early child care profession; and

15 (2) to keep more highly trained child care pro16 viders in the early child care field for longer periods

17 of time.

18 SEC. 4. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR CHILD CARE PROVIDERS.

19 Part B of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20

20 U.S.C. 1071 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section

21 428J of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1078–10) the following:

22 ‘‘SEC. 428I. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR CHILD CARE PROVID23 ERS.

24 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
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1 ‘‘(1) CHILD CARE FACILITY.—The term ‘child

2 care facility’ means a facility that—

3 ‘‘(A) provides child care services; and

4 ‘‘(B) meets applicable State or local gov5 ernment licensing, certification, approval, or

6 registration requirements, if any.

7 ‘‘(2) CHILD CARE SERVICES.—The term ‘child

8 care services’ means activities and services provided

9 for the education and care of children from birth

10 through age 5 by an individual who has a degree in

11 early childhood education.

12 ‘‘(3) DEGREE.—The term ‘degree’ means an as13 sociate’s or bachelor’s degree awarded by an institu14 tion of higher education.

15 ‘‘(4) EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION.—The

16 term ‘early childhood education’ means education in

17 the areas of early child education, child care, or any

18 other educational area related to child care that the

19 Secretary determines appropriate.

20 ‘‘(5) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—

21 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the

22 meaning given the term in section 1201.

23 ‘‘(b) DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.—

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may carry

25 out a demonstration program of assuming the obli-
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1 gation to repay, pursuant to subsection (c), a loan

2 made, insured or guaranteed under this part or part

3 D (excluding loans made under sections 428B and

4 428C) for any new borrower after October 1, 1994,

5 who completes a degree in early childhood education

6 and obtains full-time employment in a child care fa7 cility.

8 ‘‘(2) AWARD BASIS; PRIORITY.—

9 ‘‘(A) AWARD BASIS.—Subject to subpara10 graph (B), loan repayment under this section

11 shall be on a first-come, first-served basis and

12 subject to the availability of appropriations.

13 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give

14 priority in providing loan repayment under this

15 section for a fiscal year to student borrowers

16 who received loan repayment under this section

17 for the preceding fiscal year.

18 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary is author19 ized to prescribe such regulations as may be nec20 essary to carry out the provisions of this section.

21 ‘‘(c) LOAN REPAYMENT.—

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall assume

23 the obligation to repay 15 percent of the total

24 amount of all loans made after October 1, 1994, to

25 a student under this part or part D for each com-
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1 plete year of employment described in subsection

2 (b)(1).

3 ‘‘(2) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section

4 shall be construed to authorize the refunding of any

5 repayment of a loan made under this part or part

6 D.

7 ‘‘(3) INTEREST.—If a portion of a loan is re8 paid by the Secretary under this section for any

9 year, the proportionate amount of interest on such

10 loan which accrues for such year shall be repaid by

11 the Secretary.

12 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case where a stu13 dent borrower who is not participating in loan repay14 ment pursuant to this section returns to an institu15 tion of higher education after graduation from an in16 stitution of higher education for the purpose of ob17 taining a degree in early childhood education, the

18 Secretary is authorized to assume the obligation to

19 repay the total amount of loans made under this

20 part or part D incurred for a maximum of two aca21 demic years in returning to an institution of higher

22 education for the purpose of obtaining a degree in

23 early childhood education. Such loans shall only be

24 repaid for borrowers who qualify for loan repayment

25 pursuant to the provisions of this section, and shall
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1 be repaid in accordance with the provisions of para2 graph (1).

3 ‘‘(5) INELIGIBILITY OF NATIONAL SERVICE

4 AWARD RECIPIENTS.—No student borrower may, for

5 the same volunteer service, receive a benefit under

6 both this section and subtitle D of title I of the Na7 tional and Community Service Act of 1990 (42

8 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.).

9 ‘‘(d) REPAYMENT TO ELIGIBLE LENDERS.—The Sec10 retary shall pay to each eligible lender or holder for each

11 fiscal year an amount equal to the aggregate amount of

12 loans which are subject to the repayment pursuant to this

13 section for such year.

14 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION FOR REPAYMENT.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible individual de16 siring loan repayment under this section shall sub17 mit a complete and accurate application to the Sec18 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing

19 such information as the Secretary may require.

20 ‘‘(2) CONDITIONS.—An eligible individual may

21 apply for loan repayment under this section after

22 completing each year of qualifying employment. The

23 borrower shall receive forbearance while engaged in

24 qualifying employment unless the borrower is in

25 deferment while so engaged.
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1 ‘‘(f) EVALUATION.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con3 duct, by grant or contract, an independent national

4 evaluation of the impact of the demonstration pro5 gram assisted under this section on the field of early

6 childhood education.

7 ‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—The grant or con8 tract described in subsection (a) shall be awarded on

9 a competitive basis.

10 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS.—The evaluation described in

11 this subsection shall—

12 ‘‘(A) determine the number of individuals

13 who were encouraged by the demonstration pro14 gram assisted under this section to pursue early

15 childhood education;

16 ‘‘(B) determine the number of individuals

17 who remain employed in a child care facility as

18 a result of participation in the program;

19 ‘‘(C) identify the barriers to the effective20 ness of the program;

21 ‘‘(D) assess the cost-effectiveness of the

22 program in improving the quality of—

23 ‘‘(i) early childhood education; and

24 ‘‘(ii) child care services;
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1 ‘‘(E) identify the reasons why participants

2 in the program have chosen to take part in the

3 program;

4 ‘‘(F) identify the number of individuals

5 participating in the program who received an

6 associate’s degree and the number of such indi7 viduals who received a bachelor’s degree; and

8 ‘‘(G) identify the number of years each in9 dividual participates in the program.

10 ‘‘(4) INTERIM AND FINAL EVALUATION RE11 PORTS.—The Secretary shall prepare and submit to

12 the President and the Congress such interim reports

13 regarding the evaluation described in this subsection

14 as the Secretary deems appropriate, and shall pre15 pare and so submit a final report regarding the eval16 uation by January 1, 2002.

17 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

18 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

19 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1998, and such sums as may

20 be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’.

21 SEC. 5. LOAN CANCELLATION.

22 Section 465(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965

23 (20 U.S.C. 1087ee(a)) is amended—

24 (1) in paragraph (2)—
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1 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (G),

2 (H), and (I) as subparagraphs (H), (I), and

3 (J), respectively; and

4 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (F),

5 the following:

6 ‘‘(G) as a full-time child care provider or

7 educator—

8 ‘‘(i) in a child care facility operated by

9 an entity that meets the applicable State

10 or local government licensing, certification,

11 approval, or registration requirements, if

12 any; and

13 ‘‘(ii) who has a degree in early child14 hood education;’’; and

15 (2) in paragraph (3)(A)—

16 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘(G), (H), or

17 (I)’’ and inserting ‘‘(H), (I), or (J)’’; and

18 (B) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘or (G)’’

19 after ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’.

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