In this episode of The Markup (a segment of Congress in Context), we examine the House Committee on Education and the Workforce's field hearing in Richmond, Michigan, titled “Deployed, Not Disqualified: Defending Servicemembers in Our Schools.” Prompted by the real-world struggle of a deployed local school board member facing calls to resign while serving in a war zone, this congressional inquiry shines a spotlight on the critical gap in legal protections for service members who answer the call of duty. We move past the local political noise to detail how the federal legislative machinery is exploring concrete solutions, from expanding safeguards under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) to establishing alternative certification pathways that bring veteran leadership directly into K-12 classroo ...