II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1357 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2009 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER 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 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 Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘I Teach Act of 

6 2009’’. 


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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 were to recruit qualified teachers by 

8 2006, but, according to the Secretary of Education’s 

9 fifth report on teacher quality, over 30,000 teachers 

10 must have waivers. 

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’’, 


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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) Nearly 74,000 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) In 2008, the National Research Council 

13 (NRC) of the National Academies, affirmed that 

14 students taught by National Board certified teachers 

15 make higher gains on achievement tests than those 

16 taught by teachers who have not applied for or have 

17 not achieved certification. 

18 (8) According to the most recent report on 

19 teachers salaries by the National Education Associa20 tion, the average salary for a classroom teacher is 

21 $52,308, and analysis by the Economic Policy Insti22 tute shows that teachers wages have grown consider23 ably slower than wages of college graduates in gen24 eral. 


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1 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol2 lows: 

3 (1) To encourage teachers, through a refund4 able tax credit, to work in public elementary and 

5 secondary schools located in rural areas or schools 

6 with high poverty. 

7 (2) To provide an additional tax credit to teach8 ers who achieve certification from the National 

9 Board for Professional Teaching Standards in order 

10 to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in 

11 public elementary and secondary schools. 

12 SEC. 3. REFUNDABLE TAX CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS 

13 TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY 

14 SCHOOLS LOCATED IN HIGH POVERTY OR 

15 RURAL AREAS AND CERTIFIED TEACHERS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub17 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

18 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by insert19 ing after section 36 the following new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 36A. TAX CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS TEACHING IN EL21 EMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS LO22 CATED IN HIGH POVERTY OR RURAL AREAS 

23 AND CERTIFIED TEACHERS. 

24 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli25 gible teacher, there shall be allowed as a credit against 


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1 the tax imposed by this subtitle for the taxable year an 

2 amount equal to the applicable amount for the eligible aca3 demic year ending during such taxable year. 

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

5 section— 

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

7 OR SCHOOLS WITH HIGH POVERTY.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligi9 ble teacher who performs services in a public 

10 kindergarten or a public elementary or sec11 ondary school described in subparagraph (B) 

12 during the eligible academic year, the applicable 

13 amount is $1,000. 

14 ‘‘(B) SCHOOL DESCRIBED.—A public kin15 dergarten or a public elementary or secondary 

16 school is described in this subparagraph if— 

17 ‘‘(i) at least 75 percent of the stu18 dents attending such kindergarten or 

19 school receive free or reduced-cost lunches 

20 under the school lunch program established 

21 under the Richard B. Russell National 

22 School Lunch Act, or 

23 ‘‘(ii) such kindergarten or school has 

24 a School Locale Code of 7 or 8, as deter25 mined by the Secretary of Education. 


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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 endVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:39 Jun 26, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1357.IS S1357

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1 ing in a taxable year beginning after December 31, 

2 2009.’’. 

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 36A of such 

7 Code’’. 

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

9 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev10 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 

11 item relating to section 36 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 36A. Tax credit for individuals teaching in elementary and secondary 

schools located in high poverty or rural areas and certified 

teachers.’’. 

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, 2009. 

Æ 


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