I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1527
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to
the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs relating
to educational assistance, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY24, 2025
Mr. J
AMESintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain
improvements to the laws administered by the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs relating to educational assistance,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reforming Education 4
for Veterans Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ABSENCE FROM CERTAIN EDUCATION DUE TO CER-1
TAIN SERVICE. 2
(a) O
PTIONS.—Section 3691A of title 38, United 3
States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (1) of sub-4
section (a) and inserting the following: 5
‘‘(1) A covered member may, after receiving orders 6
to enter a period of covered service— 7
‘‘(A) withdraw from covered education; 8
‘‘(B) take a leave of absence from covered edu-9
cation; or 10
‘‘(C) subject to subsection (d), enter into an 11
agreement with the institution concerned to complete 12
a course of covered education to the satisfaction of 13
such institution concerned.’’. 14
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Such subsection is 15
further amended, in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘or 16
takes a leave of absence’’ and inserting ‘‘, takes a leave 17
of absence, or enters into an agreement’’. 18
(c) A
GREEMENT.—Such section is further amended 19
by— 20
(1) redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 21
(e); and 22
(2) by inserting, after subsection (c), the fol-23
lowing new subsection (d): 24
‘‘(d) A
GREEMENT WITHINSTITUTION CON-25
CERNED.—A covered member may enter into an agree-26
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ment under subsection (a) only if the covered member has 1
completed at least half of a course of covered education.’’. 2
(d) S
ECTIONHEADING.—Such section is amended by 3
striking the heading and inserting ‘‘Absence from cer-4
tain education due to certain service’’. 5
(e) T
ABLE OFSECTIONS.—The table of sections at 6
the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is amended by 7
striking the item relating to section 3691A and inserting 8
the following new item: 9
‘‘3691A. Absence from certain education due to certain service.’’.
SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS COMPLIANCE
10
SURVEYS. 11
Section 3693 of title 38, United States Code, is 12
amended— 13
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 14
following new paragraph: 15
‘‘(3) In conducting annual compliance surveys under 16
this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that an edu-17
cational institution or training establishment with multiple 18
campuses is only required to complete one such survey if 19
one school certifying official certifies veteran enrollment 20
for all such campuses.’’; 21
(2) in subsection (c)— 22
(A) by striking ‘‘not more than 10 busi-23
ness days of notice’’; 24
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(B) by striking ‘‘this section.’’ and insert-1
ing ‘‘this section—’’; and 2
(C) by adding at the end the following new 3
paragraphs: 4
‘‘(1) in the case of an educational institution or 5
training establishment with a time stamp database 6
collection feature, not more than 15 business days of 7
notice; and 8
‘‘(2) in the case of any other educational insti-9
tution or training establishment, not more than 10 10
business days of notice.’’; and 11
(3) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 12
following: 13
‘‘(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 14
‘‘(1) The terms ‘educational institution’ and 15
‘training establishment’ have the meanings given 16
such terms in section 3452 of this title. 17
‘‘(2) The term ‘school certifying official’ means 18
an employee of an educational institution with pri-19
mary responsibility for certifying veteran enrollment 20
at the educational institution.’’. 21
SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION OF SCHOOL CERTIFYING OFFICIALS 22
OF HANDBOOK UPDATES. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 14 business days 24
after updating the school certifying official handbook of 25
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the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Vet-1
erans Affairs shall provide notice to all school certifying 2
officials of such update. 3
(b) S
CHOOLCERTIFYINGOFFICIALDEFINED.—The 4
term ‘‘school certifying official’’ means an employee of an 5
educational institution with primary responsibility for cer-6
tifying veteran enrollment at the educational institution. 7
Æ
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