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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 538

To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention and

reduction of violent crime in elementary and secondary schools.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 21, 1993

Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. RIDGE, Ms. MOLINARI, and Mr.

PASTOR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the

prevention and reduction of violent crime in elementary

and secondary schools.

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 ‘‘Classroom Safety Act

5 of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the violence within elementary and second2 ary schools across the Nation has increased dramati3 cally during the past decade;

4 (2) the despair, brought about by poverty and

5 disenfranchisement, that affect millions of youth in

6 cities across the Nation is entering schools;

7 (3) almost 3,000,000 crimes occur on or near

8 school campuses every year, 16,000 per school day

9 or one every 6 seconds;

10 (4) one fourth of major urban school districts

11 now use metal detectors;

12 (5) 20 percent of teachers in schools have re13 ported being threatened with violence by a student;

14 (6) greater efforts are needed for counseling

15 and training for teachers in potentially hostile school

16 environments to avert violence in schools;

17 (7) schools are being asked to take on too many

18 responsibilities that society as a whole has neglected

19 forcing teachers to referee fights rather than teach;

20 (8) teachers’ unions are staging walk-outs to

21 protest the violence which denies interested students

22 the opportunity to learn;

23 (9) local educational agencies and cities are al24 ready financially devastated and need an infusion of

25 Federal funds to help fight violence in schools; and
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1 (10) local educational agencies should not have

2 to withdraw funds and resources intended for books,

3 computers, and teachers, to help pay for an in4 creased need for safety mechanisms in schools.

5 (b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is to provide

6 assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention

7 and reduction of violent crime in schools throughout the

8 Nation.

9 SEC. 3. GRANT AUTHORIZATION.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education is au11 thorized to make grants to local educational agencies to

12 provide assistance to such agencies most directly affected

13 by crime and violence.

14 (b) MODEL PROJECT.—The Secretary shall develop

15 a model for classroom safety written in English and Span16 ish in a timely fashion and make such model available to

17 any local educational agency that requests such informa18 tion.

19 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS.

20 Grants made by the Secretary under this Act shall

21 be used—

22 (1) to fund anticrime and safety measures and

23 to develop education and training programs for the

24 prevention of crime, violence, and illegal use of

25 drugs and alcohol;
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1 (2) for counseling programs for victims and wit2 nesses of crime in schools;

3 (3) to develop programs for conflict resolution

4 and peer mediation counseling for students, teach5 ers, and other personnel in regular contact with stu6 dents at school;

7 (4) to purchase crime prevention equipment, in8 cluding metal detectors and video-surveillance de9 vices; and

10 (5) for the prevention and reduction of the par11 ticipation of students in organized crime and drug

12 and gang-related activities in schools.

13 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to be eligible to receive

15 a grant under this Act for any fiscal year, a local edu16 cational agency shall submit an application to the Sec17 retary in such form and containing such information as

18 the Secretary may reasonably require.

19 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Each application under sub20 section (a) shall include—

21 (1) a request for funds for the purposes de22 scribed in section 4;

23 (2) a description of the schools and commu24 nities to be served by the grant, including the nature
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1 of the crime and violence problems within such

2 schools;

3 (3) assurances that Federal funds received

4 under this Act shall be used to supplement, not sup5 plant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be

6 available for activities funded under this Act; and

7 (4) statistical information in such form and

8 containing such information that the Secretary may

9 require regarding crime within the schools served by

10 such local educational agency.

11 (c) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.—Each application shall

12 include a comprehensive plan that shall contain—

13 (1) a description of the crime problems within

14 the schools targeted for assistance;

15 (2) a description of the projects to be devel16 oped;

17 (3) a description of the resources available in

18 the community to implement the plan together with

19 a description of the gaps in the plan that cannot be

20 filled with existing resources;

21 (4) an explanation of how the requested grant

22 will be used to fill gaps;

23 (5) a description of the system the applicant

24 will establish to prevent and reduce crime problems;

25 and
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1 (6) a description of educational materials to be

2 developed in Spanish.

3 SEC. 6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS; LIMITATIONS ON GRANTS.

4 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE COST LIMITATION.—The Sec5 retary shall use not more than 5 percent of the funds

6 available under this Act for the purposes of administration

7 and technical assistance.

8 (b) RENEWAL OF GRANTS.—A grant under this Act

9 may be renewed for up to 2 additional years after the first

10 fiscal year during which the recipient receives an initial

11 grant under this Act, subject to the availability of funds,

12 if—

13 (1) the Secretary determines that the funds

14 made available to the recipient during the previous

15 year were used in a manner required under the ap16 proved application; and

17 (2) the Secretary determines that an additional

18 grant is necessary to implement the crime prevention

19 program described in the comprehensive plan as re20 quired by section 5(c).

21 SEC. 7. AWARD OF GRANTS.

22 (a) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary

23 shall consider the following factors in awarding grants to

24 local educational agencies:
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1 (1) CRIME PROBLEM.—The nature and scope of

2 the crime problem in the targeted schools.

3 (2) NEED AND ABILITY.—Demonstrated need

4 and evidence of the ability to provide the services de5 scribed in the plan required under section 5(c).

6 (3) POPULATION.—The number of students to

7 be served by the plan required under section 5(c).

8 (b) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary

9 shall attempt, to the extent practicable, to achieve an equi10 table geographic distribution of grant awards.

11 SEC. 8. REPORTS.

12 (a) REPORT.—Local educational agencies that receive

13 funds under this Act shall submit to the Secretary a report

14 not later than March 1 of each year that describes

15 progress achieved in carrying out the plan required under

16 section 5(c).

17 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

18 submit to the Congress a report by October 1 of each year

19 in which grants are made available under this Act which

20 shall contain a detailed statement regarding grant awards,

21 activities of grant recipients, a compilation of statistical

22 information submitted by applicants under 5(b)(4), and

23 an evaluation of programs established under this Act.

24 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

25 For the purpose of this Act:
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1 (1) The term ‘local educational agency’ has the

2 same meaning given such term under section

3 1471(12) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965.

5 (2) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary

6 of Education.

7 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 There are authorized to be appropriated

9 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 1993 and such sums as may

10 be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1994 through

11 1999 to carry out the projects under this Act.

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