Bullying Redress and Verified Enforcement Act

Summary:   Bullying Redress and Verified Enforcement Act or the BRAVE Act This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require a local educational agency (LEA) employee who becomes aware of bullying to report to an LEA-designated individual, within seven business days: (1) the acts that constituted the bullying; (2) the victim's protected characteristic, whether actual or perceived,&nbsp;if the bullying included a reference to or was motivated by such characteristic; and (3) the response of the LEA's employees to the bullying. The LEA-designated individual must, within 60 days after receiving such a report, inform all the LEA's employees of the acts described and the response of the LEA's employees. Each LEA shall annually review its policies on bullying.  In addition, each LEA must publish and make available to students and parents a quarterly report that: (1) lists the number of bullying reports made since the previous quarterly report, and (2) informs the public of the right to file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Education (ED). OCR shall: (1) establish and publish complaint procedures; (2) investigate each complaint; (3) withhold ESEA funds from, issue a complaint against, or enter into a compliance agreement with any noncompliant LEA; and (4) make information about each complaint available on ED's website. The bill conditions an LEA's receipt of ESEA funds on its: (1) annual written certification to ED that it is in compliance with the bill's requirements, and (2) submission of its four most recent quarterly reports on bullying.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bullying Redress and Verified 
Enforcement Act'' or the ``BRAVE Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Part F of title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

                         ``Subpart 6--Bullying

``SEC. 8581. OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    ``(a) Report of Bullying.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), a local 
        educational agency shall require an employee of the local 
        educational agency who becomes aware of bullying to report to 
        the individual designated under subsection (b) by not later 
        than 7 business days after becoming aware of such bullying a 
        description of--
                    ``(A) the acts that constituted bullying;
                    ``(B) if the bullying included a reference to or 
                was motivated by an actual or perceived protected 
                characteristic of the victim, such protected 
                characteristic; and
                    ``(C) the response to such bullying by employees of 
                the local educational agency.
            ``(2) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in the 
        case of an employee of a local educational agency who is 
        informed of bullying by a student attending a school served by 
        the local educational agency, but the student requests that 
        such bullying not be reported by the employee, the employee 
        shall not be required to report such bullying under paragraph 
        (1).
    ``(b) Receipt of Reports.--A local educational agency shall 
designate an individual to receive and keep a record of reports of 
bullying and shall inform each employee of the local educational agency 
of the contact information of the individual so designated.
    ``(c) Reporting to the Local Educational Agency.--Not later than 60 
days after the date of the receipt of a report under subsection (a)(1), 
the individual designated under subsection (b) shall inform all 
employees of the local educational agency of the acts described and the 
response by employees of the local educational agency and shall exclude 
any personally identifiable information of any student involved.
    ``(d) Publicly Available Quarterly Reports.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (1), a local 
        educational agency shall publish and make available to all 
        students served by the local educational agency and parents of 
        such students a report on a quarterly basis that--
                    ``(A) lists the number of bullying reports made 
                since the previous quarterly report; and
                    ``(B) informs the public of the right to file a 
                complaint under section 8582(b)(2).
            ``(2) Exception.--A local educational agency shall not 
        publish a report under paragraph (1) in a case in which such 
        publication would reveal personally identifiable information 
        about an individual student.
    ``(e) Annual Policy Review.--Each local educational agency shall 
review, on an annual basis, the policies on bullying for schools served 
by the local educational agency.

``SEC. 8582. FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.

    ``(a) Condition of Federal Funding.--As a condition of receiving 
funds under this Act, a local educational agency shall--
            ``(1) annually certify to the Secretary in writing that 
        such local educational agency has complied with this section; 
        and
            ``(2) together with such certification, submit the 4 most 
        recent quarterly reports published preceding such certification 
        pursuant to section 8581(d).
    ``(b) Federal Receipt of Complaints.--The Assistant Secretary who 
serves as the head of the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of 
Education shall--
            ``(1) establish a procedure for a student of a local 
        educational agency, a parent of such student, or another 
        appropriate individual to submit to the Assistant Secretary a 
        complaint relating to a failure to comply with this section; 
        and
            ``(2) publish such procedure on the Internet website of the 
        Department of Education.
    ``(c) Federal Response to Complaints.--After receiving a complaint 
pursuant to subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary shall--
            ``(1) investigate such complaint to determine if a local 
        educational agency failed to comply with this section; and
            ``(2) if such local educational agency is determined under 
        paragraph (1) to have failed to comply with this section--
                    ``(A) withhold further payment of funds under this 
                Act to such local educational agency;
                    ``(B) issue a complaint to compel compliance of 
                such local educational agency through a cease and 
                desist order; or
                    ``(C) enter into a compliance agreement with such 
                local educational agency to bring it into compliance 
                with this section,
        in the same manner as the Secretary is authorized to take such 
        actions under sections 455, 456, and 457, respectively, of the 
        General Education Provisions Act.
    ``(d) Public Availability of Information About Complaints.--Not 
later than 60 days after receiving a complaint pursuant to subsection 
(b)(2), the Assistant Secretary shall make available on the Internet 
website of the Department information about such complaint, which 
shall--
            ``(1) if the bullying included a reference to or was 
        motivated by an actual or perceived protected characteristic of 
        the victim, include a description of such protected 
        characteristic; and
            ``(2) exclude any personally identifiable information of 
        any student involved.

``SEC. 8583. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this subpart:
            ``(1) Bullying.--The term `bullying' means any severe, 
        pervasive, or persistent electronic, written, verbal, or 
        physical act by one student or a group of students toward 
        another student during school hours and on school premises, or 
        at a school-sponsored activity outside of school hours, that 
        causes--
                    ``(A) harm to or reasonable concern for the person, 
                property, or mental health of such other student; or
                    ``(B) such other student to withdraw from or avoid 
                benefitting from the services, activities, or 
                opportunities offered by the school.
            ``(2) Protected characteristic.--The term `protected 
        characteristic' includes race, color, sex, religion, national 
        origin, disability, gender, gender identity, and sexual 
        orientation.''.

SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    The table of contents for the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 8574, the following:

                         ``subpart 6--bullying

``Sec. 8581. Official reporting requirements.
``Sec. 8582. Federal enforcement.
``Sec. 8583. Definitions.''.