I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3338

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax incentive 

to individuals teaching in elementary and secondary schools located in 

rural or high unemployment areas and to individuals who achieve certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 17, 2003

Mr. POMEROY (for himself and Mr. OSBORNE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a tax incentive to individuals teaching in elementary and 

secondary schools located in rural or high unemployment 

areas and to individuals who achieve certification from 

the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Incentives to Educate 

5 American Children (I Teach) Act of 2003’’. 
2

•HR 3338 IH 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) An estimated 2,000,000 new teachers will 

5 be needed over the next decade. 

6 (2) Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 

7 2001, States must recruit qualified teachers by 

8 2006, yet schools in rural areas and public schools 

9 with high poverty have trouble attracting and retain10 ing teachers. 

11 (3) Fourteen percent of America’s school chil12 dren attend rural schools, and according to the 

13 Rural School and Community Trust 2000 report, 

14 ‘‘Why Rural Matters’’, rural education is crucial or 

15 very important to overall education performance in 

16 25 States, so recruitment and retention of teachers 

17 is essential. 

18 (4) A 2000 study by the Education Trust re19 ports that high poverty schools are twice as likely 

20 not to have teachers certified in their fields than 

21 other schools, which highlights that high poverty 

22 schools will need special help to meet the goals of 

23 the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. 

24 (5) The National Board for Professional Teach25 ing Standards was founded in 1987 as a follow up 

26 to the landmark 1983 report, ‘‘A Nation at Risk’’, 
3

•HR 3338 IH 

1 by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching. The Na2 tional Board for Professional Teaching Standards is 

3 an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organi4 zation the mission of which is to establish high and 

5 rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers 

6 should know and be able to do. 

7 (6) Over 16,000 teachers from all 50 States 

8 and the District of Columbia have completed certifi9 cation by the National Board for Professional 

10 Teaching Standards, which certification is a rigorous 

11 assessment process for teachers. 

12 (7) Recent data from the Accomplished Teach13 ing Validation Study have demonstrated that teach14 ers who are certified by the National Board for Pro15 fessional Teaching Standards significantly out16 perform their peers who are not National Board cer17 tified on 11 of 13 key measures of teaching exper18 tise. 

19 (8) Teacher salaries have remained stagnant 

20 over the past decade, according to a study by the 

National Education Association, and 2 21 ⁄3 of the 

22 States do not meet the national average of $40,582 

23 for teacher salaries. 

24 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol25 lows: 
4

•HR 3338 IH 

1 (1) To encourage teachers, through a refund2 able tax credit, to work in public elementary and 

3 secondary schools located in rural areas or schools 

4 with high poverty. 

5 (2) To provide an additional tax credit to teach6 ers who achieve certification from the National 

7 Board for Professional Teaching Standards in order 

8 to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in 

9 public elementary and secondary schools. 

10 SEC. 3. REFUNDABLE TAX CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS 

11 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY 

12 SCHOOLS LOCATED IN HIGH POVERTY OR 

13 RURAL AREAS AND CERTIFIED TEACHERS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub15 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

16 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by redes17 ignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after 

18 section 35 the following new section: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 36. TAX CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS TEACHING IN ELE20 MENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS LO21 CATED IN HIGH POVERTY OR RURAL AREAS 

22 AND CERTIFIED TEACHERS. 

23 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli24 gible teacher, there shall be allowed as a credit against 

25 the tax imposed by this subtitle for the taxable year an 
5

•HR 3338 IH 

1 amount equal to the applicable amount for the eligible aca2 demic year ending during such taxable year. 

3 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes of this 

4 section—

5 ‘‘(1) TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS IN RURAL AREAS

6 OR SCHOOLS WITH HIGH POVERTY.—

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligi8 ble teacher who performs services in a public 

9 kindergarten or a public elementary or sec10 ondary school described in subparagraph (B) 

11 during the eligible academic year, the applicable 

12 amount is $1,000. 

13 ‘‘(B) SCHOOL DESCRIBED.—A public kin14 dergarten or a public elementary or secondary 

15 school is described in this subparagraph if—

16 ‘‘(i) at least 75 percent of the stu17 dents attending such kindergarten or 

18 school receive free or reduced-cost lunches 

19 under the school lunch program established 

20 under the Richard B. Russell National 

21 School Lunch Act, or 

22 ‘‘(ii) such kindergarten or school has 

23 a School Locale Code of 7 or 8, as deter24 mined by the Secretary of Education. 
6

•HR 3338 IH 

1 ‘‘(2) CERTIFIED TEACHERS.—In the case of an 

2 eligible teacher who is certified by the National 

3 Board for Professional Teaching Standards for the 

4 eligible academic year, the applicable amount is 

5 $1,000. 

6 ‘‘(3) CERTIFIED TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS IN

7 RURAL AREAS OR SCHOOLS WITH HIGH POVERTY.—

8 In the case of an eligible teacher described in para9 graphs (1) and (2), the applicable amount is $2,000. 

10 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE TEACHER.—For purposes of this sec11 tion, the term ‘eligible teacher’ means, for any eligible aca12 demic year, an individual who is a kindergarten through 

13 grade 12 classroom teacher or instructor in a public kin14 dergarten or a public elementary or secondary school on 

15 a full-time basis for such eligible academic year. 

16 ‘‘(d) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 

17 this section—

18 ‘‘(1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

19 SCHOOLS.—The terms ‘elementary school’ and ‘sec20 ondary school’ have the respective meanings given 

21 such terms by section 9101 of the Elementary and 

22 Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ACADEMIC YEAR.—The term ‘el24 igible academic year’ means any academic year end-
7

•HR 3338 IH 

1 ing in a taxable year beginning after December 31, 

2 2003.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

4 (1) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 

5 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting be6 fore the period ‘‘, or from section 36 of such Code’’. 

7 (2) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

8 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the item 

10 relating to section 36 and inserting the following 

11 new items:

‘‘36. Tax credit for individuals teaching in elementary and secondary schools located in high poverty or rural areas and certified teachers. 

‘‘37. Overpayments of tax.’’.

12 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall apply to academic years ending in tax14 able years beginning after December 31, 2003.

Æ