Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Loan Forgiveness for Educators Act
This bill expands loan forgiveness for educators by revising the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. The program provides loan forgiveness (up to $17,500) for teachers who are highly qualified, teach full-time in a low-income elementary or secondary school or educational service agency, and complete five years of consecutive service.
Specifically, the bill renames the program as the Educator Loan Forgiveness Programs.
Additionally, the bill expands the program by making additional loan types eligible for benefits under the program (e.g., parent PLUS loans).
Further, the bill expands program eligibility to early childhood educators and program directors serving in early childhood education programs and school leaders serving in public high-need schools.
The bill requires the Department of Education to
make monthly student loan payments on behalf of the educator during qualifying service (i.e., employment as a full-time qualifying educator in a high-need school or an early childhood education program),
provide complete loan forgiveness after five years of qualifying service, and
take steps to notify borrowers about changes to the program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 23, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 23, 2023: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ben Luján (D-NM) introduced it on March 23, 2023, and 19 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 19 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 23, 2023, 1267 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1267 days ago, on March 23, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers