I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9635 

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

a grant program to support students who have epilepsy or a seizure disorder. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024 

Mr. NORCROSS (for himself, Mr. COSTA, Mr. BACON, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

TONKO, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to authorize a grant program to support students who have epilepsy or a seizure disorder. 

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 ‘‘Seizure Awareness and 

5 Preparedness Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO 

2 HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE DISORDER. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 

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

6 ‘‘PART G—GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STU7 DENTS WHO HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE 

8 DISORDER 

9 ‘‘SEC. 4701. GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO 

10 HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE DISORDER. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) INDIVIDUALIZED EMERGENCY HEALTH

13 CARE PLAN.—The term ‘individualized emergency 

14 health care plan’ means a document developed by a 

15 student’s health care provider, in consultation with 

16 the parent of a student with epilepsy or a seizure 

17 disorder, other appropriate medical professionals 

18 who may be providing epilepsy or seizure disorder 

19 care to the student, and the school nurse or special20 ized instructional support personnel, which outlines 

21 a set of procedural guidelines that provide specific 

22 directions about what to do in a particular emer23 gency situation and is signed by the health care pro24 vider, the parent, and the school nurse or specialized 

25 instructional support personnel. 


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1 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUALIZED HEALTH CARE PLAN.— 

2 The term ‘individualized health care plan’ means a 

3 document developed by a student’s health care pro4 vider, in consultation with the parent of a student 

5 with epilepsy or a seizure disorder, other appropriate 

6 medical professionals who may be providing epilepsy 

7 or seizure disorder care to the student, and the 

8 school nurse or specialized instructional support per9 sonnel, which is consistent with the recommenda10 tions of the student’s health care provider and which 

11 sets out the health services needed by the student at 

12 school and is signed by the health care provider, the 

13 parent, and the school nurse or specialized instruc14 tional support personnel. 

15 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM.—The 

16 Secretary shall award grants to States, on a competitive 

17 basis, to enable the States to award subgrants to local 

18 educational agencies to carry out a program that supports 

19 students with epilepsy and seizure disorders in schools. 

20 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS.—A State that de21 sires to receive a grant under this section shall submit an 

22 application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

23 and accompanied by such information as the Secretary 

24 may require. 

25 ‘‘(d) SUBGRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives a 

2 grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 

3 award subgrants to local educational agencies to en4 able the local educational agencies to carry out a 

5 program that funds training of school personnel on 

6 seizure awareness and preparedness that covers indi7 vidualized health care plans and individualized emer8 gency health care plans for students who have epi9 lepsy or a seizure disorder. 

10 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS FOR SUBGRANTS.—A local 

11 educational agency that desires to receive a subgrant 

12 under this subsection shall submit an application to 

13 the State at such time, in such manner, and accom14 panied by such information as the State may re15 quire. 

16 ‘‘(3) USE OF SUBGRANT FUNDS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

18 ‘‘(i) REQUIRED USE.—A local edu19 cational agency that receives a subgrant 

20 under this subsection shall use the 

21 subgrant funds to carry out a program in 

22 the elementary schools and secondary 

23 schools served by such agency to fund 

24 training of school personnel on seizure 

25 awareness and preparedness that covers inVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Sep 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9635.IH H9635

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1 dividualized health care plans and individ2 ualized emergency health care plans for 

3 students who have epilepsy or a seizure 

4 disorder. 

5 ‘‘(ii) PERMISSIVE USES.—A local edu6 cational agency that receives a subgrant 

7 under this subsection may use the 

8 subgrant funds for— 

9 ‘‘(I) training of school personnel 

10 to administer or assist with the ad11 ministration of seizure medications; 

12 ‘‘(II) training and education of 

13 students on seizure awareness and 

14 preparedness; 

15 ‘‘(III) recruiting, hiring, and re16 taining dedicated compliance staff 

17 who are responsible for ensuring that 

18 all training and program requirements 

19 related to seizure awareness, pre20 paredness, and management are con21 sistently met; and 

22 ‘‘(IV) other activities or pro23 grams determined appropriate by the 

24 Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—It is rec2 ommended that each individualized health care 

3 plan and each individualized emergency health 

4 care plan include the following information: 

5 ‘‘(i) Written orders from the student’s 

6 physician or advanced practice nurse out7 lining the epilepsy or seizure disorder care. 

8 ‘‘(ii) The symptoms of the epilepsy or 

9 seizure disorder for that particular student 

10 and recommended care. 

11 ‘‘(iii) Full participation in exercise 

12 and sports, and any contraindications to 

13 exercise, or accommodations that shall be 

14 made for that particular student. 

15 ‘‘(iv) Accommodations for school trips, 

16 after-school activities, class parties, and 

17 other school-related activities. 

18 ‘‘(v) Education of all school personnel 

19 about epilepsy and seizure disorders, how 

20 to recognize and provide care for epilepsy 

21 and seizure disorders, and when to call for 

22 assistance. 

23 ‘‘(vi) Medical and treatment issues 

24 that may affect the educational process of 


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1 the student with epilepsy or the seizure 

2 disorder. 

3 ‘‘(vii) The student’s ability to manage, 

4 and the student’s level of understanding of, 

5 the student’s epilepsy or seizure disorder. 

6 ‘‘(viii) How to maintain communica7 tion with the student, the student’s parent 

8 and health care team, the educational 

9 staff, and the school nurse or specialized 

10 instructional support personnel. 

11 ‘‘(C) TRAINING REQUIRED.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each local edu13 cational agency carrying out a program 

14 supported with subgrant funds shall ensure 

15 that the school nurse or specialized in16 structional support personnel assigned to a 

17 particular elementary school or secondary 

18 school supported by the program— 

19 ‘‘(I) coordinates the provision of 

20 epilepsy and seizure disorder care at 

21 such school; and 

22 ‘‘(II) ensures that all staff are 

23 trained not less often than every 2 

24 years in the care of students with epi25 lepsy and seizure disorders, including 


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1 staff working with school-sponsored 

2 programs outside of the regular school 

3 day, as provided in individualized 

4 health care plans and individualized 

5 emergency health care plans. 

6 ‘‘(ii) INSTRUCTION.—The training re7 quired under clause (i) shall include a De8 partment of Education-approved on-line or 

9 in-person course of instruction provided by 

10 1 or more nonprofit national organizations 

11 that support the welfare of individuals with 

12 epilepsy and seizure disorders. 

13 ‘‘(D) SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS.—Each local 

14 educational agency carrying out a program sup15 ported with subgrant funds shall ensure that 

16 each school bus driver who transports a student 

17 with epilepsy or a seizure disorder receives no18 tice of the student’s condition, information on 

19 how to provide care for epilepsy or the seizure 

20 disorder, emergency contact information, epi21 lepsy and seizure disorder recognition and first 

22 aid training, and parent contact information. 

23 ‘‘(E) RELEASE.—Each local educational 

24 agency carrying out a program supported with 

25 subgrant funds shall ensure that the school 


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1 nurse or specialized instructional support per2 sonnel assigned to a particular elementary 

3 school or secondary school supported by the 

4 program obtains a release from each parent of 

5 a student with epilepsy or a seizure disorder 

6 who requests an individualized health care plan 

7 or an individualized emergency health care plan, 

8 to authorize the sharing of medical information 

9 between the student’s physician or advanced 

10 practice nurse and other health care providers. 

11 ‘‘(F) NO LIABILITY.—No school employee, 

12 including a school nurse or specialized instruc13 tional support personnel, a school bus driver, a 

14 school bus aide, or any other officer or agent of 

15 a local educational agency, shall be held liable 

16 for any good faith act or omission consistent 

17 with the provisions of this section. Good faith 

18 shall not include willful misconduct, gross neg19 ligence, or recklessness. 

20 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT; NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant and 

21 subgrant funds provided under this section shall be used 

22 to supplement, not supplant, other Federal or State funds 

23 available to carry out activities described in this section. 

24 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

25 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $34,500,000 for the period of fiscal years 2024 through 

2 2028.’’. 

3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

4 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

5 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

6 to section 4644 the following new items: 

‘‘PART G–GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO HAVE EPILEPSY

OR A SEIZURE DISORDER

‘‘Sec. 4701. Grant program to support students who have epilepsy or a seizure 

disorder.’’. 

Æ 


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