II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2248 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to redesignate and expand the 

Troops-to-Teachers Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 24, 2019 

Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To amend title 10, United States Code, to redesignate and 

expand 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. REDESIGNATION AND EXPANSION OF TROOPS-TO7 TEACHERS PROGRAM. 

8 (a) REDESIGNATION AS TROOPS-TO-SUPPORT-EDU9 CATION PROGRAM.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1154 of title 10, 

2 United States Code, is amended— 

3 (A) in subsection (a)(6), by striking 

4 ‘‘Troops-to-Teachers Program’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘Troops-to-Support-Education Program’’; and 

6 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Troops7 to-Teachers Program’’ and inserting ‘‘Troops8 to-Support-Education Program’’. 

9 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in Federal 

10 law (other than this Act), regulations, guidance, in11 structions, or other documents of the Federal Gov12 ernment to the Troops-to-Teachers Program shall be 

13 deemed to be a reference to the Troops-to-Support14 Education Program. 

15 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (a) of such section is 

16 further amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 

18 paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; 

19 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol20 lowing new paragraphs: 

21 ‘‘(7) QUALIFYING POSITION.—(A) Except as 

22 provided in subparagraph (B), the term ‘qualifying 

23 position’ means any full-time position in an eligible 

24 school, including a position as— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a teacher, including an elementary 

2 school teacher, a secondary school teacher, or a 

3 career or technical education teacher; 

4 ‘‘(ii) a school resource officer; 

5 ‘‘(iii) a school leader; 

6 ‘‘(iv) specialized instructional support per7 sonnel; 

8 ‘‘(v) a paraprofessional; or 

9 ‘‘(vi) other staff. 

10 ‘‘(B) Such term does not include a position that 

11 is— 

12 ‘‘(i) performed primarily at a location out13 side the grounds of an eligible school; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) held by an individual who is employed 

15 by a contractor. 

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

17 ‘school resource officer’ has the meaning given that 

18 term in section 1709(4) of the Omnibus Crime Con19 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

20 10389(4)).’’; and 

21 (3) by amending paragraph (10), as redesig22 nated by paragraph (1) of this subsection, to read 

23 as follows: 

24 ‘‘(10) ADDITIONAL TERMS.—The terms ‘ele25 mentary school’, ‘local educational agency’, ‘other 


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

2 school’, ‘specialized instructional support personnel’, 

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

4 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).’’. 

6 (c) EXPANSION OF PROGRAM GENERALLY.—Sub7 section (b) of such section is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘become a 

9 teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying posi10 tion’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

12 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

13 end; 

14 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

15 end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

17 clause: 

18 ‘‘(iii) experiencing a shortage of 

19 personnel to fill qualifying positions; 

20 and’’. 

21 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPANTS.—Sub22 section (d)(3) of such section is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as sub24 paragraph (E); and 


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1 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol2 lowing new subparagraph (D): 

3 ‘‘(D) If a member of the armed forces is apply4 ing for the Program to receive assistance for place5 ment in a qualifying position other than a position 

6 as a teacher described in subparagraph (B) or (C), 

7 the Secretary shall require the member to obtain the 

8 professional credentials that are required by the 

9 State for the position involved.’’. 

10 (e) PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT AND ASSISTANCE.— 

11 Subsection (e) of such section is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

13 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘become a 

14 teacher’’ and inserting ‘‘obtain a qualifying po15 sition’’; and 

16 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘as an ele17 mentary school teacher’’ and all that follows 

18 through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘in 

19 a qualifying position for not less than three 

20 school years in an eligible school to begin the 

21 school year after the member obtains the pro22 fessional credentials required for the position 

23 involved.’’; 

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

25 teacher in an eligible elementary school or secondary 


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1 school or as a career or technical teacher’’ and in2 serting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; and 

3 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

4 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘edu5 cational level, certification, or licensing’’ and in6 serting ‘‘educational level, certification, licens7 ing, or other professional credentials’’; 

8 (B) in subparagraph (B)(i), by striking 

9 ‘‘as an elementary school teacher, secondary 

10 school teacher, or career or technical teacher’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘in a qualifying position’’; and 

12 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 

13 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘5,000’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘7,500’’; and 

15 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘3,000’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘4,500’’. 

17 (f) REIMBURSEMENT.—Subsection (f)(1) of such sec18 tion is amended— 

19 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘become a teacher’’ and in21 serting ‘‘obtain a qualifying position’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘as an elementary school 

23 teacher, secondary school teacher, or career or 

24 technical teacher’’ and insert ‘‘in a qualifying 

25 position’’; and 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘, employ2 ment as an elementary school teacher, secondary 

3 school teacher, or career or technical teacher’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘employment in a qualifying position’’. 

5 (g) PARTICIPATION BY STATES.—Subsection 

6 (h)(2)(A) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘as ele7 mentary school teachers, secondary school teachers, and 

8 career or technical teachers’’ and inserting ‘‘in qualifying 

9 positions’’. 

10 (h) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.—Such section 

11 is further amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection 

13 (j); and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol15 lowing new subsection (i): 

16 ‘‘(i) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.— 

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

18 into one or more partnerships with nonprofit enti19 ties, including veterans service organizations, to as20 sist with the placement of participants in eligible 

21 schools in accordance with this section. 

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

23 subsection, the term ‘nonprofit entity’ means an en24 tity qualifying as an exempt organization under secVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2248.IS S2248

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1 tion 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

2 1986.’’. 

3 (i) FUNDING LIMITATION.—Subsection (j) of such 

4 section, as redesignated by subsection (h)(1) of this sec5 tion, is amended by striking ‘‘$15,000,000’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘$20,000,000’’. 

7 (j) CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (1) HEADING AMENDMENT.—The heading of 

9 such section is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘§ 1154. Assistance to eligible members and former 

11 members to obtain employment in 

12 schools: Troops-to-Support-Education 

13 Program’’. 

14 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 

15 at the beginning of chapter 58 of such title is 

16 amended by striking the item relating to section 

17 1154 and inserting the following new item: 

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

Æ 


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