Support Educators and Reinvest in Valuable Education Act or the SERVE Act - Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase, from $5,000 to $17,500, the amount of loan forgiveness available under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan (DL) programs to highly qualified teachers who have been employed at a low income school in the same local educational agency (LEA) for five consecutive complete school years.
Requires those low income schools to be schools: (1) at which more than 30% of the students are impoverished, and (2) located within the school district of an LEA that is eligible for school improvement funds under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Excepts PLUS loans under the FFEL and DL programs that are provided to the parents of dependent undergraduate students from that loan forgiveness program.
Includes consolidation loans in that loan forgiveness program, but only to the extent they are used to repay eligible FFELs or DLs.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2881 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2881
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the amount of
loan forgiveness available to highly qualified teachers employed in
low-income schools who teach in the same school district for five
consecutive years.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 31, 2013
Mr. Butterfield (for himself, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Lee of
California, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr.
McIntyre, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Payne, Ms. Bass, Mr.
Carson of Indiana, Ms. Clarke, Mr. Richmond, Mr. Lewis, Ms. Kaptur, Mr.
Cleaver, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Ms. Brown of Florida, and Ms. Eddie
Bernice Johnson of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase the amount of
loan forgiveness available to highly qualified teachers employed in
low-income schools who teach in the same school district for five
consecutive years.
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 ``Support Educators and Reinvest in
Valuable Education Act'' or ``SERVE Act''.
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS
EMPLOYED IN A LOW-INCOME SCHOOL IN THE SAME LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL AGENCY FOR 5 CONSECUTIVE YEARS.
(a) Federal Family Education Loan Program.--Section 428J(c) of the
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078-10(c)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(4) Additional amounts for teachers employed by the same
local educational agency for 5 consecutive complete school
years.--
``(A) Amounts.--Notwithstanding the amount
specified in paragraph (1), the aggregate amount that
the Secretary shall repay under this section shall be
not more than $17,500 in the case of an elementary or
secondary school teacher--
``(i) who meets the requirements of
subsection (b); and
``(ii) who has been employed as a full-time
teacher for 5 consecutive complete school years
at the same local educational agency.
``(B) Inclusion of plus loans.--A loan made under
section 428B (other than an excepted PLUS loan) shall
be considered a qualified loan amount for purposes of
this paragraph.
``(C) Treatment of consolidation loans.--
Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a loan amount for a loan
made under section 428C may be a qualified loan amount
for the purposes of this paragraph only to the extent
that such loan amount was used to repay a Federal
Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized
Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct PLUS Loan (other than
an excepted PLUS loan), or a loan made under section
428, 428B (other than an excepted PLUS loan), or 428H
for a borrower who meets the requirements of
subparagraph (A), as determined in accordance with
regulations prescribed by the Secretary.
``(D) Excepted plus loan.--In this paragraph, the
term `excepted PLUS loan' has the meaning given the
term in section 493C(a).''.
(b) William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.--Section 460(c) of
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087j(c)) is amended by
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(4) Additional amounts for teachers employed by the same
local educational agency for 5 consecutive complete school
years.--
``(A) Amounts.--Notwithstanding the amount
specified in paragraph (1), the aggregate amount that
the Secretary shall cancel under this section shall be
not more than $17,500 in the case of an elementary or
secondary school teacher--
``(i) who meets the requirements of
subsection (b); and
``(ii) who has been employed as a full-time
teacher for 5 consecutive complete school years
at the same local educational agency.
``(B) Inclusion of plus loans.--A Federal Direct
PLUS Loan (other than an excepted PLUS loan) shall be
considered a qualified loan amount for purposes of this
paragraph.
``(C) Treatment of consolidation loans.--
Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a loan amount for a
Federal Direct Consolidation Loan may be a qualified
loan amount for the purposes of this paragraph only to
the extent that such loan amount was used to repay a
Federal Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct PLUS Loan
(other than an excepted PLUS loan), or a loan made
under section 428, 428B (other than an excepted PLUS
loan), or 428H for a borrower who meets the
requirements of subparagraph (A), as determined in
accordance with regulations prescribed by the
Secretary.
``(D) Excepted plus loan.--In this paragraph, the
term `excepted PLUS loan' has the meaning given the
term in section 493C(a).''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
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