I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5286 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish 

a grant program that will support efforts at the State level to establish 

anti-bullying task forces to study, address, and reduce bullying in elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 3, 2019 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to establish a grant program that will support 

efforts at the State level to establish anti-bullying task 

forces to study, address, and reduce bullying 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. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Between one in four and one in three stu6 dents in the United States report being bullied at 


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1 school, and over 70 percent of young people say they 

2 have seen bullying in their schools. 

3 (2) Since most instances of bullying take place 

4 on school grounds, school staff and teachers play an 

5 instrumental role in bullying prevention. 

6 (3) Research shows that engaged educators who 

7 are supportive of all students help to reduce the 

8 overall presence of bullying and harassment on 

9 school grounds. 

10 (4) 87.3 percent of transgender students report 

11 feeling unsafe at school, and nine out of ten stu12 dents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, 

13 transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) report being har14 assed and bullied every year. 

15 (5) Hostile school environments have a detri16 mental effect on the academic success and health of 

17 students. 

18 (6) Law in effect before the date of the enact19 ment of this Act does not sufficiently address bul20 lying prevention, and governments and educators in 

21 every State have a responsibility to ensure State and 

22 local education systems have processes in place for 

23 students to be able to learn in a safe environment, 

24 regardless of their actual or perceived race, color, 


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1 national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, 

2 gender identity, or religion. 

3 SEC. 2. STATE ANTI-BULLYING TASK FORCE REQUIRE4 MENT. 

5 Subpart 2 of part F of title VIII of the Elementary 

6 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881 

7 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 8549D. STATE ANTI-BULLYING TASK FORCE GRANTS. 

9 ‘‘(a) ANTI-BULLYING TASK FORCE GRANT PRO10 GRAM.—The Secretary shall carry out a program to make 

11 grants to each State to establish and implement a task 

12 force to study, address, and reduce bullying in elementary 

13 schools and secondary schools. 

14 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State task force estab15 lished under a grant under this section shall use the grant 

16 funds to conduct a study on bullying in the elementary 

17 schools and secondary schools of such State that in18 cludes— 

19 ‘‘(1) policies of the local educational agencies in 

20 such State with respect to bullying; 

21 ‘‘(2) teacher, parent, and student education 

22 with respect to bullying; and 

23 ‘‘(3) the incidents of student violence and self24 harm as a result of bullying. 

25 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CHAIR.—Each Chief Education Officer of 

2 a State shall designate one individual to serve as the 

3 chair of the task force of such State. 

4 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—Each State shall des5 ignate at least one individual from each of the fol6 lowing categories to serve on the task force of such 

7 State: 

8 ‘‘(A) At least one teacher at elementary 

9 schools and secondary schools. 

10 ‘‘(B) At least one school administrator. 

11 ‘‘(C) At least one parent of students. 

12 ‘‘(D) At least one K–12 student. 

13 ‘‘(E) At least one guidance counselor. 

14 ‘‘(F) At least one child psychologist. 

15 ‘‘(G) At least one paraprofessional. 

16 ‘‘(H) At least one lawyer. 

17 ‘‘(I) At least one representative from a 

18 community-based organization who specializes 

19 in providing supportive services to students who 

20 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 

21 or queer. 

22 ‘‘(J) Professionals who specialize in pro23 viding support services to students who identify 

24 as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. 


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1 ‘‘(K) At least one individual from the Sate 

2 Education Agency office focused on school im3 provement and school climate. 

4 ‘‘(L) Additional individuals, as determined 

5 by the chair of the task force. 

6 ‘‘(3) TERMS OF MEMBERS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each member of a 

8 task force of State shall be appointed for the 

9 duration of the existence of such task force. 

10 ‘‘(B) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on a task 

11 force shall be filled in the manner in which the 

12 original designation was made under paragraph 

13 (2). 

14 ‘‘(4) DISCRETIONARY COORDINATION.—A task 

15 force of a State may coordinate activities under this 

16 section with other boards and commissions of such 

17 State. 

18 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date on which the State submits the study re21 quired under subsection (b), the State task force of 

22 such State shall submit a final report to the Chief 

23 Education Officer of such State and the Secretary of 

24 Education containing— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the annual findings and conclusions 

2 of the task force; 

3 ‘‘(B) the recommendations of the task 

4 force for legislation or administrative actions; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(C) best practices with respect to bullying 

7 in elementary schools and secondary schools 

8 that includes recommendations for how— 

9 ‘‘(i) to address and reduce bullying; 

10 ‘‘(ii) to best educate all relevant 

11 school staff on recognizing bullying; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) parents can best address and 

13 discuss with their children the early warn14 ing signs of bullying. 

15 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION.—Each State task force 

16 shall make the final report submitted under para17 graph (1) publicly available.’’. 

Æ 


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