I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4776 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive grant program 

to award grants to local educational agencies to address implicit bias 

in elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 21, 2019 

Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. EVANS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive grant program to award grants to local educational 

agencies to address implicit bias in elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Implicit 

5 Bias in Education Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Education 

8 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to local eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Oct 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4776.IH H4776

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1 cational agencies to provide training to educators, prin2 cipals, and other staff of elementary schools and secondary 

3 schools on implicit bias, for the purposes of— 

4 (1) ending discrimination based on such bias, 

5 including— 

6 (A) in the administration of exclusionary 

7 discipline (including suspensions and expul8 sions); 

9 (B) in access to gifted and talented pro10 grams; and 

11 (C) in the apportionment of academic re12 sources; 

13 (2) improving the school climate and the rela14 tionships between students and educators, principals, 

15 and other staff of elementary and secondary schools; 

16 and 

17 (3) improving the academic achievement and at18 tainment of students. 

19 (b) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency desir20 ing to receive a grant under this section shall submit an 

21 application to the Secretary as the Secretary shall require. 

22 The application shall include a description of how the local 

23 educational agency will use the grant to carry out training 

24 under subsection (a). 


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1 (c) REPORT.—The Director of the Institute of Edu2 cation Sciences shall conduct a periodic review of the effec3 tiveness of the grant program established by this Act. 

4 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

5 purpose of carrying out this Act, there are authorized to 

6 be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

7 through 2022. 

8 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

9 (1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

10 ACT TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local 

11 educational agency’’, ‘‘other staff’’, and ‘‘secondary 

12 school’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec13 tion 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu14 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

15 (2) IMPLICIT BIAS.—The term ‘‘implicit bias’’ 

16 means bias with respect to actual or perceived race, 

17 religion, sex (including sexual orientation or gender 

18 identity), disability, ethnicity, or socioeconomic sta19 tus, that results from subconsciously held attitudes, 

20 beliefs, or associations. 

21 (3) TRAINING.—The term ‘‘training’’ means 

22 evidence based, on-going professional development 

23 and support. 

Æ 


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