109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2108
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to prevent the disruption
of the education of children who change residence based on the military service
of a reserve component parent who is deployed overseas.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 4, 2005
Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE
of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr.
CARDOZA, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. CONYERS, and
Mrs. MCCARTHY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans' Affairs
A BILL
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to prevent the disruption
of the education of children who change residence based on the military service
of a reserve component parent who is deployed overseas.
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 `Safeguarding Schoolchildren of Deployed Soldiers
Act of 2005'.
SEC. 2. RELIEF FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN CHANGING RESIDENCE BASED ON MILITARY SERVICE
OF RESERVIST PARENT.
(a) Uninterrupted Attendance at School- Title VII of the Servicemembers Civil
Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 591 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following new section:
`SEC. 707. CONTINUITY OF ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL OF CHILDREN OF CERTAIN PARENTS
IN MILITARY SERVICE.
`(a) Attendance for Schoolchildren- For the duration of the military service
on which a child's change of residence is based and at the request of a child's
parent, a State educational agency or local educational agency shall, for
purposes of enrollment (including tuition, fees, and costs) in elementary
school or secondary school, treat a child who changes residence based on the
qualifying military service of one or both of the child's parents as if the
child has the residence the child had before the change of residence, and
the child shall be deemed, for all other purposes relating to enrollment,
to have the residence the child had before the change of residence.
`(b) Qualifying Military Service- For purposes of this section, qualifying
military service is military service to which a member of a reserve component
of the uniformed services is ordered that includes a period of deployment
to a location outside the United States.
`(c) No Provision of Transportation- No State educational agency or local
educational agency shall be responsible for the transportation of a child
described in subsection (a) to or from school by reason of subsection (a).
`(d) Definitions- In this section, the terms `child', `parent', `State educational
agency', `local educational agency', `elementary school', and `secondary school'
have the meanings given those terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).'.
(b) Transitional Provision- Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act, a State educational agency or local educational agency that serves
the area where a child is deemed to reside pursuant to section 707(a) of the
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, as added by subsection (a), shall facilitate
the re-enrollment of the child if such re-enrollment is necessary to be in
compliance with such section.
(c) Clerical Amendment- The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Servicemembers
Civil Relief Act is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
`707. Continuity of attendance at school of children with certain parents
in military service.'.
END
