I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1229 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide that an individual 
may remain eligible to participate in the teacher loan forgiveness program 
under title IV of such Act if the individual’s period of consecutive 
years of employment as a full-time teacher is interrupted because the 
individual is the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces who is 
relocated during the school year pursuant to military orders for a perma-
nent change of duty station, or the individual works in a school of 
the defense dependents’ education system under the Defense Dependents’ 
Education Act of 1978 due to such a relocation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2019 
Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. KIL-
MER, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. SWALWELL of 
California, and Mrs. LURIA) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 
that an individual may remain eligible to participate in 
the teacher loan forgiveness program under title IV of 
such Act if the individual’s period of consecutive years 
of employment as a full-time teacher is interrupted be-
cause the individual is the spouse of a member of the 
Armed Forces who is relocated during the school year 
pursuant to military orders for a permanent change of 
duty station, or the individual works in a school of the 
defense dependents’ education system under the Defense 
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Dependents’ Education Act of 1978 due to such a reloca-
tion, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Teacher 
Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN STU-
DENT LOAN FORGIVENESS OR LOAN CAN-
CELLATION 
PROGRAM 
FOR 
TEACHERS 
WHOSE PERIOD OF CONSECUTIVE EMPLOY-
MENT IS INTERRUPTED BECAUSE OF MILI-
TARY ORDERS REQUIRING SPOUSE TO RELO-
CATE TO NEW RESIDENCE, OR WHO WORK IN 
A SCHOOL OF THE DEFENSE DEPENDENTS’ 
EDUCATION SYSTEM DUE TO SUCH A RELO-
CATION. 
(a) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY.— 
(1) PART B 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 fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(4) CONTINUING
ELIGIBILITY
FOR
CERTAIN 
MILITARY SPOUSES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 
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‘‘(i) COMPLETE
BUT
NONCONSECU-
TIVE YEARS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 
(1) of subsection (b), an individual who is 
employed in a full-time teaching position 
that meets the requirements of this section 
for a period that includes 5 complete but 
nonconsecutive years may be eligible for 
loan forgiveness pursuant to such sub-
section, if the individual was a qualified 
military spouse, as defined in subpara-
graph (B)(i), with respect to any year dur-
ing such period for which the individual 
was not employed as a full-time teacher in 
a school or location meeting the require-
ments of this section. 
‘‘(ii) EMPLOYMENT IN DEFENSE DE-
PARTMENT
SCHOOLS.—Notwithstanding 
paragraph (1) of subsection (b), an indi-
vidual may be eligible for loan forgiveness 
pursuant to such subsection, if the indi-
vidual is a qualified military spouse, as de-
fined in subparagraph (B)(ii), and the in-
dividual has been employed as a full-time 
teacher for 5 complete school years in a 
school described in subparagraph (A) of 
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subsection (b)(1) or in a school of the de-
fense dependents’ education system under 
the Defense Dependents’ Education Act of 
1978 (20 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) that is lo-
cated outside of the United States, and 
met the requirements of subparagraph (B) 
of subsection (b)(1). 
‘‘(B) QUALIFIED
MILITARY
SPOUSE
DE-
FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘qualified 
military spouse’ means— 
‘‘(i) with respect to a year, an indi-
vidual who— 
‘‘(I) during the previous year, 
served as a teacher in a school or lo-
cation meeting the requirements of 
subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(1) 
and met the requirements of subpara-
graph (B) of subsection (b)(1); 
‘‘(II) is the spouse of a member 
of the Armed Forces who is relocated 
during the year pursuant to military 
orders for a permanent change of 
duty station; 
‘‘(III) did not serve as a teacher 
in a school or location meeting the re-
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quirements of subparagraph (A) of 
subsection (b)(1) during the year or 
any portion of the year because the 
individual accompanied the spouse to 
a new residence as a result of such 
military orders; and 
‘‘(IV) during the following year, 
resumed service as a teacher in a 
school or location meeting the require-
ments of subparagraph (A) of sub-
section (b)(1) and met the require-
ments of subparagraph (B) of sub-
section (b)(1); or 
‘‘(ii) an individual who is the spouse 
of a member of the Armed Forces who is 
relocated overseas during a year of employ-
ment as a teacher for which the individual 
seeks loan forgiveness under this section 
pursuant to military orders for a change of 
duty station and the individual accom-
panied the spouse to a new residence over-
seas as a result of such military orders. 
‘‘(C) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later 
than 90 days after the end of the second aca-
demic year during which this paragraph is in 
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