II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2880 

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 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

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 2014’’ or the ‘‘I Teach Act of 

6 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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

4 (1) The United States classrooms are increas5 ingly filled with less experienced teachers, as elderly 

6 teachers retire and the retention rate among young 

7 teachers continues to decrease. The most common 

8 number of years of teaching experience for public 

9 school teachers has decreased from 15 years experi10 ence in 1987–1988 to 5 years in 2011–2012. Ac11 cording to the most recent data, 1,700,000 teachers, 

12 representing 45 percent of the workforce, had less 

13 than 10 years of experience. Students deserve teach14 ers with more experience and training. 

15 (2) Recent research confirms that additional 

16 years of teaching experience at the same grade level 

17 (up to 20 years) add a direct positive impact on stu18 dent achievement. 

19 (3) The most recent data (2011–2012) from 

20 the National Center for Education Statistics find 

21 32.8 percent of public schools in the United States 

22 are in rural areas. The associated costs rural schools 

23 face mean that they often have less money for in24 structional costs and salaries. Department of Edu25 cation data show that rural school districts have the 

26 lowest base salaries for starting teachers, a trend 


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1 that continues even as teachers move to the top of 

2 the local salary range. Rural schools face these chal3 lenges across the country. 

4 (4) The most recent study by the Education 

5 Trust found that high schools with high poverty 

6 rates are twice as likely to have teachers that are 

7 not certified in their fields than high schools with 

8 low poverty rates. The same study found that high 

9 poverty schools have a higher percentage of first 

10 year teachers. Rural schools face similar problems. 

11 (5) According to the most recent statistics by 

12 the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department 

13 of Education, teachers are paid on average only 79 

14 percent as much as other college graduates. 

15 (6) The National Board for Professional Teach16 ing Standards was founded in 1987 as a follow up 

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

18 by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching. The Na19 tional Board for Professional Teaching Standards is 

20 an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organi21 zation, whose mission is to establish high and rig22 orous standards for what accomplished teachers 

23 should know and be able to do. 

24 (7) Over 100,000 teachers from all 50 States 

25 and the District of Columbia have completed certifiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Oct 01, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2880.IS S2880

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1 cation by the National Board for Professional 

2 Teaching Standards, where certification is a rigorous 

3 assessment process for teachers. 

4 (8) The National Research Council (NRC) of 

5 the National Academies has affirmed that students 

6 taught by National Board certified teachers make 

7 higher gains on achievement tests than those taught 

8 by teachers who have not applied for or have not 

9 achieved certification. 

10 (9) According to the National Commission on 

11 Teaching and America’s Future, 15.7 percent of 

12 teachers leave their jobs each year, compared to an 

13 annual turnover rate of 11.9 percent in other profes14 sions. The average cost of recruiting, hiring, pre15 paring, and losing a teacher is approximately 

16 $50,000. 

17 (10) The NRC found in 2008 that the average 

18 retention rate for National Board certified teachers 

19 is higher than the rate for teachers who have not 

20 achieved certification. Specifically, in a study focus21 ing on the first 4 to 7 years of teaching, the NRC 

found that nearly 3 22 ⁄4 of National Board certified 

23 teachers remained in the profession at the end of the 

study, compared to only 2 24 ⁄3 of non-certified teachers 

25 that stayed teaching during the same time period. 


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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 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol19 lowing new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 36C. 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 41, 42, or 43, as 

25 determined 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 both 

9 paragraphs (1) and (2), the applicable amount is 

10 $2,000. 

11 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE TEACHER.—For purposes of this sec12 tion, the term ‘eligible teacher’ means, for any eligible aca13 demic year, an individual who is a kindergarten through 

14 grade 12 classroom teacher or instructor in a public kin15 dergarten or a public elementary or secondary school on 

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

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

18 this section— 

19 ‘‘(1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

20 SCHOOLS.—The terms ‘elementary school’ and ‘sec21 ondary school’ have the respective meanings given 

22 such terms by section 9101 of the Elementary and 

23 Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

24 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ACADEMIC YEAR.—The term ‘el25 igible academic year’ means any academic year endVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:22 Oct 01, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2880.IS S2880

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1 ing in a taxable year beginning after December 31, 

2 2014.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

5 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 

6 36C’’ after ‘‘36B’’. 

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 inserting after the 

10 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 

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

schools located in high poverty or rural areas and certified 

teachers.’’. 

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

12 this section shall apply to academic years ending in tax13 able years beginning after December 31, 2014. 

Æ 


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