Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB311 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 311
5	5	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for
6	6	education.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY29, 2025
9	9	Mr. L
10	10	EE(for himself and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which was
11	11	read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
14	14	incentives for education.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Achieving Choice in 4
19	19	Education Act’’ or the ‘‘ACE Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. 529 ACCOUNT FUNDING FOR HOMESCHOOL AND AD-6
21	21	DITIONAL ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EX-7
22	22	PENSES. 8
23	23	(a) I
24	24	NGENERAL.—Section 529(c)(7) of the Internal 9
25	25	Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 10
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28	28	•S 311 IS
29	29	‘‘(7) TREATMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SEC -1
30	30	ONDARY TUITION.—Any reference in this section to 2
31	31	the term ‘qualified higher education expense’ shall 3
32	32	include a reference to the following expenses in con-4
33	33	nection with enrollment or attendance at, or for stu-5
34	34	dents enrolled at or attending, an elementary or sec-6
35	35	ondary public, private, or religious school: 7
36	36	‘‘(A) Tuition. 8
37	37	‘‘(B) Curriculum and curricular materials. 9
38	38	‘‘(C) Books or other instructional mate-10
39	39	rials. 11
40	40	‘‘(D) Online educational materials. 12
41	41	‘‘(E) Tuition for tutoring or educational 13
42	42	classes outside of the home, including at a tu-14
43	43	toring facility, but only if the tutor or instruc-15
44	44	tor is not related to the student and— 16
45	45	‘‘(i) is licensed as a teacher in any 17
46	46	State, 18
47	47	‘‘(ii) has taught at an eligible edu-19
48	48	cational institution, or 20
49	49	‘‘(iii) is a subject matter expert in the 21
50	50	relevant subject. 22
51	51	‘‘(F) Fees for a nationally standardized 23
52	52	norm-referenced achievement test, an advanced 24
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55	55	•S 311 IS
56	56	placement examination, or any examinations re-1
57	57	lated to college or university admission. 2
58	58	‘‘(G) Fees for dual enrollment in an insti-3
59	59	tution of higher education. 4
60	60	‘‘(H) Educational therapies for students 5
61	61	with disabilities provided by a licensed or ac-6
62	62	credited practitioner or provider, including oc-7
63	63	cupational, behavioral, physical, and speech-lan-8
64	64	guage therapies. 9
65	65	Such term shall include expenses for the purposes 10
66	66	described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) in con-11
67	67	nection with a homeschool (whether treated as a 12
68	68	homeschool or a private school for purposes of appli-13
69	69	cable State law).’’. 14
70	70	(b) E
71	71	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 15
72	72	this section shall apply to distributions made after the 16
73	73	date of the enactment of this Act. 17
74	74	SEC. 3. INCREASE IN LIMITATION ON DISTRIBUTIONS 18
75	75	FROM 529 PLANS FOR ELEMENTARY AND SEC-19
76	76	ONDARY SCHOOL EXPENSES. 20
77	77	(a) I
78	78	NGENERAL.—Section 529(e)(3)(A) of the Inter-21
79	79	nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 22
80	80	‘‘$10,000’’ in the flush matter at the end and inserting 23
81	81	‘‘$20,000’’. 24
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84	84	•S 311 IS
85	85	(b) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 1
86	86	this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 2
87	87	December 31, 2026. 3
88	88	SEC. 4. GIFT TAX EXCLUSIONS. 4
89	89	(a) G
90	90	IFTTAXEXCLUSION FORCONTRIBUTIONS TO 5
91	91	529 P
92	92	LANS.—Section 2503(b) of the Internal Revenue 6
93	93	Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
94	94	lowing new paragraph: 8
95	95	‘‘(3) E
96	96	XCLUSION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO 529 9
97	97	PLANS.—The dollar amount in effect under para-10
98	98	graph (1) with respect to gifts (to which such para-11
99	99	graph applies) made to any person during any cal-12
100	100	endar year shall be increased (not in excess of 13
101	101	$20,000) by the amount of such gifts made during 14
102	102	such calendar year to qualified tuition programs (as 15
103	103	defined in section 529) with respect to which such 16
104	104	person is the designated beneficiary.’’. 17
105	105	(b) E
106	106	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
107	107	this section shall apply to gifts made after December 31, 19
108	108	2026. 20
109	109	SEC. 5. TAX-EXEMPT BONDS RESTRICTED TO STATES THAT 21
110	110	IMPLEMENT SCHOOL CHOICE LAWS. 22
111	111	(a) I
112	112	NGENERAL.—Section 103 of the Internal Rev-23
113	113	enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 24
114	114	following new subsection: 25
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117	117	•S 311 IS
118	118	‘‘(d) RESTRICTION TO STATESTHATIMPLEMENT 1
119	119	S
120	120	CHOOLCHOICELAWS.— 2
121	121	‘‘(1) I
122	122	N GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not 3
123	123	apply to any State or local bond unless such bond 4
124	124	is issued by a minimum school choice State or a po-5
125	125	litical subdivision of such a State. 6
126	126	‘‘(2) P
127	127	ARTIAL EXCLUSION WITH RESPECT TO 7
128	128	CERTAIN STATES.— 8
129	129	‘‘(A) I
130	130	N GENERAL.—In the case of any 9
131	131	State or local bond issued by a minimum school 10
132	132	choice State which does not meet the require-11
133	133	ments of subparagraph (B) (or issued by any 12
134	134	political subdivision of such a State), subsection 13
135	135	(a) shall be applied by substituting ‘50 percent 14
136	136	of the interest’ for ‘interest’. 15
137	137	‘‘(B) R
138	138	EQUIREMENTS.—A minimum school 16
139	139	choice State meets the requirements of this sub-17
140	140	paragraph if the Secretary determines that— 18
141	141	‘‘(i) at least 65 percent of the speci-19
142	142	fied school age children are eligible for one 20
143	143	or more of such State’s school choice pro-21
144	144	grams, and 22
145	145	‘‘(ii) the average amount spent by 23
146	146	such State on the education of each speci-24
147	147	fied school age child eligible for one or 25
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150	150	•S 311 IS
151	151	more of such State’s school choice pro-1
152	152	grams is at least 75 percent of the average 2
153	153	amount spent by such State on the edu-3
154	154	cation of each specified school age child 4
155	155	not eligible for one or more of such pro-5
156	156	grams. 6
157	157	‘‘(3) M
158	158	INIMUM SCHOOL CHOICE STATE .—For 7
159	159	purposes of this subsection, the term ‘minimum 8
160	160	school choice State’ means any State if the Sec-9
161	161	retary determines that— 10
162	162	‘‘(A) such State has enacted one or more 11
163	163	school choice programs, 12
164	164	‘‘(B) at least 40 percent of the specified 13
165	165	school age children are eligible for one or more 14
166	166	of such State’s school choice programs, and 15
167	167	‘‘(C) the average amount spent by such 16
168	168	State on the education of each specified school 17
169	169	age child eligible for one or more of such 18
170	170	State’s school choice programs is at least 60 19
171	171	percent of the average amount spent by such 20
172	172	State on the education of each specified school 21
173	173	age child not eligible for one or more of such 22
174	174	programs. 23
175	175	‘‘(4) S
176	176	CHOOL CHOICE PROGRAMS .—For pur-24
177	177	poses of this subsection, the term ‘school choice pro-25
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180	180	•S 311 IS
181	181	gram’ means, with respect to any State, each of the 1
182	182	following with respect to elementary and secondary 2
183	183	education in such State: 3
184	184	‘‘(A) Tax credit scholarship programs. 4
185	185	‘‘(B) Voucher programs. 5
186	186	‘‘(C) Education savings account program. 6
187	187	‘‘(D) Refundable tax credit for private edu-7
188	188	cation expenses. 8
189	189	‘‘(5) S
190	190	PECIFIED SCHOOL AGE CHILD .—For pur-9
191	191	poses of this subsection, the term ‘specified school 10
192	192	age child’ means, with respect to any State, any in-11
193	193	dividual residing in such State who has not attained 12
194	194	age 18.’’. 13
195	195	(b) E
196	196	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 14
197	197	this section shall apply to bonds issued after the date of 15
198	198	the enactment of this Act. 16
199	199	Æ
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