II
113TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 403
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to address
and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 28, 2013
Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 to address and take action to prevent bullying
and harassment of students.
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 Safe Schools Improve- 4
ment Act of 2013. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 8
fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 9
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physical and psychological health of its victims and 1
create conditions that negatively affect learning, 2
thereby undermining the ability of students to 3
achieve their full potential. 4
(2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 5
dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 6
underachievement. 7
(3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 8
behaviors that negatively impact a students ability 9
to learn and participate in educational opportunities 10
and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 11
include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida- 12
tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send- 13
ing insulting or offensive messages through elec- 14
tronic communications, such as internet sites, e- 15
mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes- 16
saging, telephone, or any other means. 17
(4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 18
harassment policies have an increased level of re- 19
porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul- 20
lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 21
frequency and number of such incidents. 22
(5) Students have been particularly singled out 23
for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac- 24
tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 25
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disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 1
or religion, among other categories. 2
(6) Some young people experience a form of 3
bullying called relational aggression or psychological 4
bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 5
threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 6
their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac- 7
ceptance. 8
(7) Interventions to address bullying and har- 9
assment conduct to create a positive and safe school 10
climate, combined with evidence-based discipline 11
policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 12
Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative 13
practices, can minimize suspensions, expulsions, and 14
other exclusionary discipline policies to ensure that 15
students are not pushed-out or diverted to the ju- 16
venile justice system. 17
(8) According to one poll, 85 percent of Ameri- 18
cans strongly support or somewhat support a Fed- 19
eral law to require schools to enforce specific rules 20
to prevent bullying. 21
(9) Students, parents, educators, and policy- 22
makers have come together to call for leadership and 23
action to address the national crisis of bullying and 24
harassment. 25
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SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.Title IV of the Elementary and 2
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 3
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4
PART DSAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 5
SEC. 4401. PURPOSE. 6
The purpose of this part is to address the problem 7
of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 8
elementary schools and secondary schools. 9
SEC. 4402. ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES. 10
(a) BULLYING.In this part, the term bullying in- 11
cludes cyber-bullying through electronic communications. 12
(b) POLICIES.A State that receives a grant under 13
this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 14
State to carry out the following: 15
(1) Establish policies that prevent and prohibit 16
conduct, including bullying and harassment, that is 17
sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive 18
(A) to limit a students ability to partici- 19
pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 20
of a public school or local educational agency; 21
or 22
(B) to create a hostile or abusive edu- 23
cational environment, adversely affecting a stu- 24
dents education, at a program or activity of a 25
public school or local educational agency, in- 26
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cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 1
aggression or intimidation. 2
(2) The policies required under paragraph (1) 3
shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 4
conduct based on 5
(A) a students actual or perceived race, 6
color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual ori- 7
entation, gender identity, or religion; 8
(B) the actual or perceived race, color, 9
national origin, sex, disability, sexual orienta- 10
tion, gender identity, or religion of a person 11
with whom a student associates or has associ- 12
ated; or 13
(C) any other distinguishing characteris- 14
tics that may be defined by the State or local 15
educational agency. 16
(3) Provide 17
(A) annual notice to students, parents, 18
and educational professionals describing the full 19
range of prohibited conduct contained in such 20
local educational agencys discipline policies; 21
and 22
(B) grievance procedures for students or 23
parents to register complaints regarding the 24
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prohibited conduct contained in such local edu- 1
cational agencys discipline policies, including 2
(i) the name of the local educational 3
agency officials who are designated as re- 4
sponsible for receiving such complaints; 5
and 6
(ii) timelines that the local edu- 7
cational agency will establish in the resolu- 8
tion of such complaints. 9
(4) Collect annual incidence and frequency of 10
incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 11
policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 12
level that are accurate and complete and publicly re- 13
port such data at the school level and local edu- 14
cational agency level. The local educational agency 15
shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 16
such conduct are not identifiable. 17
SEC. 4403. STATE REPORTS. 18
The chief executive officer of a State that receives 19
a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu- 20
cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec- 21
retary 22
(1) on the information reported by local edu- 23
cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 24
4402(b)(5); and 25
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(2) describing the States plans for supporting 1
local educational agency efforts to address the con- 2
duct prohibited by the policies described in section 3
4402(b)(1). 4
SEC. 4404. EVALUATION. 5
(a) BIENNIAL EVALUATION.The Secretary shall 6
conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 7
and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen- 8
tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa- 9
tion of the requirements described in section 4402, includ- 10
ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 11
the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef- 12
fective parent involvement and training programs. 13
(b) DATA COLLECTION.The Commissioner for 14
Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 15
are subject to independent review, to determine the inci- 16
dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 17
described in section 4402. 18
(c) BIENNIAL REPORT.Not later than January 1, 19
2015, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 20
submit to the President and Congress a report on the find- 21
ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to- 22
gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 23
data submitted by the States under section 4403. 24
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SEC. 4405. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 1
(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION 2
LAWS.Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali- 3
date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand- 4
ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 5
Federal law or law of a State or political subdivision of 6
a State, including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 7
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 8
Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), section 9
504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 10
794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 11
(42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 12
part are in addition to those imposed by title VI of the 13
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title 14
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 15
1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 16
1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil- 17
ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 18
(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.Noth- 19
ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 20
regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 21
procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 22
laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 23
expression. 24
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SEC. 4406. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1
Nothing in this part shall be construed to prohibit 2
a State or local entity from enacting any law with respect 3
to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 4
that is not inconsistent with this part.. 5
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.The table of contents in 6
section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 7
of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 8
to section 4304 the following: 9
PART DSAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT
Sec. 4401. Purpose.
Sec. 4402. Anti-bullying policies.
Sec. 4403. State reports.
Sec. 4404. Evaluation.
Sec. 4405. Effect on other laws.
Sec. 4406. Rule of construction..
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