RAISE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2510 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a refundable tax credit for certain teachers as a supplement to State effort to provide teachers with a livable wage, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 Mr. BOOKER 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 refundable tax credit for certain teachers as a supple- ment to State effort to provide teachers with a livable wage, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Respect, Advancement, 4 and Increasing Support for Educators Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘RAISE Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE TEACHER TAX CREDIT. 7 (a) ALLOWANCE OF TAX CREDIT.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2510 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 1 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code 2 of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B 3 the following new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 36C. TEACHER TAX CREDIT. 5 ‘‘(a) CREDIT ALLOWED.—In the case of an individual 6 who is an eligible educator during school years ending with 7 or within the taxable year, there shall be allowed as a cred- 8 it against the tax imposed by this chapter an amount 9 equal to the sum of— 10 ‘‘(1) $500, plus 11 ‘‘(2) in the case of an eligible educator who is 12 employed at a qualifying school, the applicable 13 amount. 14 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes of sub- 15 section (a), the applicable amount is the amount which 16 bears the same ratio (not to exceed one) to $9,500 17 ($7,500, in the case of any early childhood educator with- 18 out a bachelor’s degree) as— 19 ‘‘(1) the number of percentage points by which 20 the student poverty ratio for such qualifying school 21 exceeds 49 percent, bears to 22 ‘‘(2) 26 percentage points. 23 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE EDUCATOR.—For purposes of this 24 section— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2510 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible educator’ 1 means— 2 ‘‘(A) any elementary or secondary teacher, 3 and 4 ‘‘(B) any early childhood educator. 5 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY TEACHER.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘elementary 7 or secondary teacher’ means an individual 8 who— 9 ‘‘(i) is a teacher of record who pro- 10 vides direct classroom teaching (or class- 11 room-type teaching in a nonclassroom set- 12 ting) in a public elementary school or a 13 public secondary school for not less than 14 75 percent of the normal or statutory 15 number of hours of work for a full-time 16 teacher over a complete school year (as de- 17 termined by the State in which the school 18 is located), 19 ‘‘(ii) meets applicable State certifi- 20 cation and licensure requirements, includ- 21 ing any requirements for certification ob- 22 tained through alternative routes to certifi- 23 cation, in the State in which such school is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2510 IS located in the subject area in which the in- 1 dividual is the teacher of record, and 2 ‘‘(iii) has met the requirements of 3 clauses (i) and (ii) for a period of not less 4 than 1 year before the first day of the tax- 5 able year. 6 ‘‘(B) TEACHER OF RECORD.—For pur- 7 poses of subparagraph (A), the term ‘teacher of 8 record’ means a teacher who has been assigned 9 the responsibility for specified pupils’ learning 10 in a grade, subject, or course as reflected on the 11 school’s official record of attendance. 12 ‘‘(3) EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR.—The 13 term ‘early childhood educator’ means an individual 14 who— 15 ‘‘(A) has— 16 ‘‘(i) an associate’s degree or higher, or 17 ‘‘(ii) credentials or a license under 18 State law for early childhood education, 19 ‘‘(B) has primary responsibility for the 20 learning and development of children in an 21 early childhood education program (as defined 22 in section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 23 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003)) during the taxable 24 year, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2510 IS ‘‘(C) has met the requirements of subpara- 1 graphs (A) and (B) for a period of not less 2 than 1 year before the first day of the taxable 3 year. 4 ‘‘(d) QUALIFYING SCHOOL.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying 6 school’ means, with respect to any school year— 7 ‘‘(A) a public elementary school or a public 8 secondary school that— 9 ‘‘(i) is in the school district of a local 10 educational agency that is eligible in such 11 year for assistance pursuant to part A of 12 title I of the Elementary and Secondary 13 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et 14 seq.), or 15 ‘‘(ii) is served by an educational serv- 16 ice agency, or a location operated by an 17 educational service agency, that is eligible, 18 for the year in which the determination is 19 made, for assistance under part A of title 20 I of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et 22 seq.), 23 ‘‘(B) an elementary school or secondary 24 school that is funded by the Bureau of Indian 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2510 IS Education and that is in the school district of 1 a local educational agency that is eligible in 2 such year for assistance pursuant to part A of 3 title I of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.), or 5 ‘‘(C) an early childhood education program 6 (as defined in section 103 of the Higher Edu- 7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1003)) that 8 serves children who receive, or are eligible for, 9 services for which financial assistance is pro- 10 vided in accordance with the Child Care and 11 Development Block Grant of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12 9858 et seq.) or the child and adult care food 13 program established under section 17 of the 14 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 15 (42 U.S.C. 1766). 16 ‘‘(2) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 17 this subsection, the terms ‘educational service agen- 18 cy’, ‘elementary school’, ‘local educational agency’, 19 ‘secondary school’, and ‘State educational agency’ 20 have the meanings given such terms in section 8101 21 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 22 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.). 23 ‘‘(e) STUDENT POVERTY RATIO.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2510 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘student poverty 1 ratio’ means— 2 ‘‘(A) with respect to any qualifying school 3 described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of sub- 4 section (d)(1), the ratio (expressed as a per- 5 centage) of— 6 ‘‘(i) the total number of children 7 served at such qualifying school meeting at 8 least one measure of poverty described in 9 section 1113(a)(5) of the Elementary and 10 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 11 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)), to 12 ‘‘(ii) the total number of children 13 served at such qualifying school, and 14 ‘‘(B) with respect to any qualifying school 15 described in subsection (d)(1)(C), the ratio (ex- 16 pressed as a percentage) of— 17 ‘‘(i) the total number of children at- 18 tending such qualifying school who are eli- 19 gible for the Child Care and Development 20 Block Grant of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et 21 seq.) or the child and adult care food pro- 22 gram established under section 17 of the 23 Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 24 Act (42 U.S.C. 1766), to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2510 IS ‘‘(ii) the total number of children at- 1 tending such qualifying school. 2 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF RATIO.—In deter- 3 mining the student poverty ratio with respect to a 4 qualifying school under paragraph (1)(A), the Sec- 5 retary shall use the same measure of poverty as is 6 used for purposes of determining the allocation of 7 funds under part A of title I of the Elementary and 8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 9 et seq.) with respect to the qualifying school. 10 ‘‘(f) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxable 12 year beginning after 2019, each of the dollar 13 amounts in subsections (a) and (b) shall be in- 14 creased by an amount equal to— 15 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 16 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter- 17 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 18 year in which the taxable year begins, deter- 19 mined by substituting in subparagraph (A)(ii) 20 thereof ‘calendar year 2018’ for ‘calendar year 21 2016’. 22 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If any increase determined 23 under paragraph (1) is not a multiple of $50, such 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2510 IS increase shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 1 $50.’’. 2 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 3 (A) The table of sections for subpart C of 4 part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the In- 5 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by in- 6 serting after the item relating to section 36B 7 the following new item: 8 ‘‘Sec. 36C. Teacher tax credit.’’. (B) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of such Code is 9 amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 10 (C) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 11 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ 12 after ‘‘36B,’’. 13 (b) INFORMATION SHARING.—The Secretary of Edu- 14 cation shall provide such information as necessary to the 15 Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) for 16 purposes of determining whether a school is a qualifying 17 school (as defined in section 36C of the Internal Revenue 18 Code of 1986, as added by subsection (a)). 19 (c) SUPPLEMENTATION OF STATE AND LOCAL EDU- 20 CATIONAL FUNDS.—A State educational agency or local 21 educational agency (as such terms are defined in section 22 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 23 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.)) shall not reduce or adjust 24 any teacher pay or teacher loan forgiveness program due 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2510 IS to the eligibility of teachers within the jurisdiction of such 1 agency for the tax credit under section 36C of the Internal 2 Revenue Code of 1986. Each State educational agency and 3 local educational agency (as so defined), upon request by 4 the Secretary of the Treasury, shall demonstrate that the 5 methodology used to allocate teacher pay and teacher loan 6 forgiveness (if applicable) to qualifying schools (as defined 7 in section 36C(d) of such Code) ensures that each such 8 school receives the same State and local funds for teacher 9 compensation it would receive if the credit under such sec- 10 tion 36C had not been enacted. 11 (d) EMPLOYER LIMITATIONS.— 12 (1) PROHIBITION OF USE IN COLLECTIVE BAR- 13 GAINING.—An employer that engages in collective 14 bargaining with employees who are eligible edu- 15 cators, as defined in section 36C(c) of the Internal 16 Revenue Code of 1986, shall not include the amount 17 of the teacher tax credit under section 36C of such 18 Code in determining the amount of salary or other 19 compensation provided to any employee under the 20 collective bargaining agreement. 21 (2) PROHIBITION OF USE AS PUNISHMENT OR 22 RETRIBUTION.—An employer of an eligible educator, 23 as defined in section 36C of the Internal Revenue 24 Code of 1986, shall not change the work assignment 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2510 IS or location of the eligible educator if one of the pri- 1 mary reasons for the change is to— 2 (A) prevent the eligible educator from re- 3 ceiving a teacher tax credit under section 36C 4 of such Code; or 5 (B) reduce the amount of the teacher tax 6 credit that the eligible educator will receive. 7 (3) ENFORCEMENT.—Notwithstanding any 8 other provision of law, the Federal Labor Relations 9 Authority shall have the authority to investigate and 10 enforce any alleged violation of this section in the 11 same manner, and subject to the same procedures, 12 as would apply to an allegation of an unfair labor 13 practice under section 7118 of title 5, United States 14 Code. 15 (4) DEFINITION.—In this subsection— 16 (A) the term ‘‘affecting commerce’’ has the 17 meaning given the term in section 2 of the Na- 18 tional Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152); 19 (B) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an em- 20 ployee of an employer who is employed in a 21 business of an employer that affects commerce; 22 and 23 (C) the term ‘‘employer’’ means a person, 24 including a State or political subdivision of a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2510.IS S2510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2510 IS State, engaged in a business affecting com- 1 merce. 2 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 4 the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 SEC. 3. INCREASE IN AND EXPANSION OF DEDUCTION FOR 6 EXPENSES OF ELEMENTARY AND SEC- 7 ONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 8 (a) INCREASE.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section 10 62(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 11 amended by striking ‘‘$250’’ and inserting ‘‘$500’’. 12 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 13 62(d)(3) of such Code is amended— 14 (A) by striking ‘‘2015’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘2019’’; 16 (B) by striking ‘‘the $250 amount’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘each of the dollar amounts’’; and 18 (C) by striking ‘‘2014’’ in subparagraph 19 (B) thereof and inserting ‘‘2018’’. 20 (b) EXPANSION TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDU- 21 CATORS.—Section 62(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code 22 of 1986 is amended— 23 (1) by striking ‘‘who is a kindergarten’’ and in- 24 serting ‘‘who is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:31 Sep 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 62 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]