II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2180 

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

professional school personnel in early childhood education, to expand 

the deduction for certain expenses of teachers to teachers in early childhood education, and to modify the credit for dependent care services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2012 

Mr. BEGICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a tax credit for professional school personnel in early 

childhood education, to expand the deduction for certain 

expenses of teachers to teachers in early childhood education, and to modify the credit for dependent care services. 

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 ‘‘Tax Credit for Early 

5 Educators Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TAX CREDIT FOR PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PER2 SONNEL IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is 

6 amended by inserting after section 25D the following new 

7 section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 25E. PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PERSONNEL IN EARLY 

9 CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. 

10 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli11 gible individual, there shall be allowed as a credit against 

12 the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an 

13 amount equal to $3,000. 

14 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this 

15 section— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible indi17 vidual’ means any individual— 

18 ‘‘(A) who is employed in a position which 

19 involves regular contact with students in an 

20 early childhood school or program, and 

21 ‘‘(B) whose position involves the formula22 tion or implementation of the educational pro23 gram for such school or program. 

24 ‘‘(2) EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL OR PRO25 GRAM.—The term ‘early childhood school or pro26 gram’ means any school or program which provides 


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1 early childhood education, as determined under 

2 State law. 

3 ‘‘(c) COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENT.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 

5 year beginning in a calendar year after 2012, the 

6 $3,000 amount contained in subsection (a) shall be 

7 increased by an amount equal to— 

8 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

9 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter10 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

11 year in which the taxable year begins, by sub12 stituting ‘calendar year 2011’ for ‘calendar year 

13 1992’ in subparagraph (B) thereof. 

14 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If any increase determined 

15 under paragraph (1) is not a multiple of $10, such 

16 increase shall be increased to the next highest mul17 tiple of $10.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

19 for subpart A of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

20 of such Code is amended by inserting after the item relat21 ing to section 25D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25E. Professional school personnel in early childhood education.’’. 

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

23 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

24 December 31, 2011. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEDUCTION FOR CERTAIN EXPENSES OF EARLY 

2 CHILDHOOD, PRESCHOOL, ELEMENTARY AND 

3 SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section 

5 62(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

6 to certain expenses of elementary and secondary school 

7 teachers) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(D) CERTAIN EXPENSES OF EARLY

9 CHILDHOOD, PRESCHOOL, ELEMENTARY AND

10 SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.—In the case 

11 of taxable years beginning before 2017, the de12 ductions allowed by section 162 which consist of 

13 expenses, not in excess of the applicable 

14 amount, paid or incurred by an eligible educa15 tor in connection with books, supplies (other 

16 than nonathletic supplies for courses of instruc17 tion in health or physical education), computer 

18 equipment (including related software and serv19 ices) and other equipment, and supplementary 

20 materials used by the eligible educator in the 

21 classroom.’’. 

22 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Subsection (d) of section 62 of 

23 such Code (relating to definition; special rules) is amended 

24 to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS RELATING TO EARLY CHILD26 HOOD, PRESCHOOL, ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY


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1 SCHOOL TEACHERS.—For purposes of subsection 

2 (a)(2)(D) and this subsection— 

3 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—The term ‘applica4 ble amount’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) $500 in the case of a full-time educa6 tor, and 

7 ‘‘(B) $250 in any other case. 

8 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE EDUCATOR.—The term ‘eligible 

9 educator’ means, with respect to any taxable year, 

10 an individual who is— 

11 ‘‘(A) a kindergarten through grade 12 

12 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or aide 

13 in a school for at least 450 hours during a 

14 school year which ends during such taxable 

15 year, or 

16 ‘‘(B) a teacher, instructor, counselor, or 

17 aid in a preschool or early childhood program 

18 for at least 450 hours during the taxable year. 

19 ‘‘(3) FULL-TIME EDUCATOR.—The term ‘full20 time educator’ means, with respect to any taxable 

21 year, an individual who for such taxable year satis22 fies the requirements of subparagraph (A) or (B) of 

23 paragraph (2) applied by substituting ‘900 hours’ 

24 for ‘450 hours’ therein. 


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1 ‘‘(4) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means any 

2 school which provides elementary education or sec3 ondary education (kindergarten through grade 12), 

4 as determined under State law. 

5 ‘‘(5) PRESCHOOL OR EARLY CHILDHOOD PRO6 GRAM.—The term ‘preschool or early childhood pro7 gram’ means any program which— 

8 ‘‘(A) is for providing preschool and re9 ceives funds for carrying out preschool pro10 grams pursuant to— 

11 ‘‘(i) part A of title I of the Elemen12 tary and Secondary Education Act of 

13 1965, or 

14 ‘‘(ii) subpart 2 of part B of title I of 

15 such Act, or 

16 ‘‘(B) is an early childhood program, as de17 fined under section 103 of the Higher Edu18 cation Act of 1965.’’. 

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

20 this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. MODIFICATION OF CREDIT FOR DEPENDENT CARE 

2 SERVICES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 21 of the 

4 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an in7 dividual for which there are 1 or more qualifying individ8 uals (as defined in subsection (b)(1)) with respect to such 

9 individual, there shall be allowed as a credit against the 

10 tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an 

11 amount equal to 35 percent of the employment-related ex12 penses (as defined in subsection (b)(2)) paid by such indi13 vidual during the taxable year.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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