Federal loan forgiveness now available for school nurses in rural areas
H.R. 10694 — More Nurses in Rural Schools Act · Filed by Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 1, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill expands the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program to include school nurses working in rural or underserved areas. It allows nurses employed by schools in health professional shortage areas to qualify for federal loan forgiveness if they commit to serve for at least 2 years, with flexible part-time arrangements and a guaranteed 5% funding set-aside for this new category.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a targeted workforce-development measure using existing federal loan-repayment infrastructure to address a documented shortage of nurses in rural schools. It is a straightforward expansion of an established program to a new eligible population.
What the text implies
- The 5% set-aside may reduce loan-repayment funding available to other eligible health professions (physicians, dentists, mental health professionals) in the same program, creating potential competition for a fixed or slowly growing appropriation.
- Part-time service provisions and hourly equivalency requirements create administrative overhead for the Department of Health and Human Services to track and certify work hours annually, potentially increasing program management costs.
- Waiver of assignment priorities and limitations (Section 333 references) may allow school nurses to bypass geographic or specialty-based allocation rules, potentially concentrating resources in schools with stronger administrative capacity to navigate the program.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
School nurses in rural and underserved areas gain access to federal loan repayment assistance, reducing financial barriers to recruitment and retention in shortage areas where student health services are critically needed. The 5% funding floor ensures dedicated resources and prevents the program from being crowded out by other eligible professions.
Who stands to gain
- School nurses in health professional shortage areas (through loan repayment)
- Schools and school districts in underserved areas (through improved nurse recruitment and retention)
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Health Service Corps, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Health professional shortage areas (HPSA), School nurses, State educational agencies, Local educational agencies
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Oct 1, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 1, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,438 characters) on Oct 6, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal loan forgiveness now available for school nurses in rural areas” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10694 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.