H.R. 4010: TUTOR Act of 2025

This bill, known as the TUTOR Act of 2025, aims to restrict the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) from entering into contracts with certain foreign-owned online tutoring services. Specifically, it targets tutoring services based in countries deemed as "countries of concern." The bill outlines the following key points:

Definition of Countries of Concern

The bill specifies that the definition of a "country of concern" includes:

• China
• Russia
• Iran
• North Korea

This means that any online tutoring services based in these countries will be ineligible for contracts with the DoD.

Amendments to Existing Law

The TUTOR Act proposes amendments to Section 854 of the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. The amendments include:

• Changing the authorizing language to specify that the new regulations will be enacted under the authority of the Secretary of Defense.
• Broadening the prior definition of restricted countries to include any country of concern, rather than just specifying China.

Implications for Online Tutoring Services

Under this bill, online tutoring services that are foreign-owned and based in any of the specified countries will not be able to secure contracts with the Department of Defense. This could impact the availability of tutoring services provided to military personnel and their families, as well as any educational programs that the DoD may seek to implement.

Overall Purpose

The overall goal of the TUTOR Act of 2025 is to safeguard the educational resources and services provided to servicemembers by ensuring that these resources do not come from foreign entities that are viewed as potential security threats.

Relevant Companies

• TAL Education Group (TAL) - This Chinese company offers online tutoring services, which would be directly affected by the bill as they would be prohibited from contracting with the DoD.
• BKEK Inc. (BEKI) - Based in a country of concern, this tutoring service could also be impacted under the new regulations.