SCHOOL Professionals Act of 2025
The SCHOOL Professionals Act of 2025 amends the Internal Revenue Code to clarify how schools and other educational organizations determine whether contracted workers (like substitute teachers, tutors, or maintenance staff hired through agencies) qualify as "full-time employees" for health insurance purposes under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Currently, the ACA requires large employers to offer health coverage to full-time employees (those working 30+ hours per week), but ambiguities exist when educational institutions hire workers as independent contractors instead of direct employees. This bill mandates that the rules used to assess if these contractors are effectively full-time employees must align with standards applied to regular school staff. Its purpose is to prevent schools from avoiding health coverage obligations by misclassifying workers as contractors, ensuring more education support staff gain access to employer-sponsored insurance. This change targets a specific gap in ACA enforcement within the education sector. If enacted, schools would need to evaluate contracted workers’ hours and roles using the same criteria as direct employees when determining health coverage eligibility. The bill applies only to entities defined as "educational organizations" (e.g., public/private schools, colleges) and takes effect for months starting after the law’s enactment date. It does not expand coverage itself but strengthens accountability for existing ACA employer requirements, potentially increasing health insurance access for thousands of contract-based school employees while imposing new compliance checks on educational institutions.
Key Points
- 1Amends Internal Revenue Code Section 4980H(c)(4)(B) to require that contractors providing primary services to educational organizations be evaluated under the same "full-time employee" rules as directly hired school staff for health coverage determinations.
- 2Specifically targets the ACA’s employer shared responsibility provisions, which mandate health coverage for full-time employees (30+ hours/week) at large employers (50+ full-time equivalent workers).
- 3Clarifies that individuals like substitute teachers, teaching assistants, or facility contractors cannot be automatically excluded from full-time status assessments solely due to contractor classification.
- 4Applies retroactively to months beginning after the bill’s enactment date, meaning compliance is required immediately for future payroll periods.
- 5Does not redefine "employee" status broadly but focuses narrowly on the ACA’s health coverage eligibility test for educational employers.