Earlier in the week, Sen. Doug Jones, D-AL, introduced two pieces of legislation – one that would provide teachers with more leadership opportunities and another that would prevent con artists from stealing tax refunds.

The bipartisan Teachers Are Leaders Act, sponsored by Jones and a variety of other senators, would establish partnerships between colleges and high-need schools to develop and support innovative leadership roles for teachers.

According to a press release from Jones’ office, teacher attrition rates are at eight percent, meaning that “quality teachers are leaving the classroom each year,” especially in some of the nation’s lowest-performing schools.

The main reasons for these departures, the press release states, are “a lack of administrative support, professional learning opportunities” and “decision-making input.”

States such as Iowa and Delaware, whose senators were among the sponsors of the federal legislation being proposed this week, have instituted “teacher leader” roles, which provide educators with the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities and work to address the needs of their schools.

The federal legislation would establish a similar framework across the nation and “ensure that the continuum of teacher preparation and development extends beyond the first few years of teaching and would offer a practical way for higher education to address teacher recruitment and retention challenges.”

“Providing educators with adequate resources, support, and advancement opportunities is critical to the success of our education system,” jones said. “The bipartisan Teachers Are Leaders Act is an important step towards treating teachers like the education professionals and community leaders that they are.”

The legislation has wide-ranging support from a number of education groups, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the Alliance for Excellence in Education, the International Literacy Association (ILA), the National Education Association (NEA), the National Parent Teacher Association (NPTA) and many others.

Jones’ second bipartisan legislative offering this week, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, is the Taxpayer Identity Protection Act, which would require the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to expand its Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) pilot program across the nation over the next five years.

A press release from Jones’ office notes that the IRS has made significant strides in protecting citizens, but refund fraud continues to plague the agency at a cost of $1.7 billion to victims, according to 2016 numbers.

“The IP PIN pilot program has shown it can effectively defend taxpayers from the growing risk of identity theft, and it is critical that we take this next step to expand the program,” Jones said. As these threats grow, it’s important that the federal government make every effort to help protect taxpayers’ identities. While doing so, this program can also help save billions of dollars by preventing fraudulent tax returns.”

The IP PIN program, a six-digit code that allows eligible taxpayers to have their returns processed quicker and helps prevent the misuse of personal information, assisted the IRS in rejecting more than 7,000 fraudulent claims in one month during last year’s filing season.