II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2ND SESSION S. 5065 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO 

7 HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE DISORDER. 

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

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

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


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1 ‘‘PART G—GRANT PROGRAM TO SUPPORT STU2 DENTS WHO HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE 

3 DISORDER 

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

5 HAVE EPILEPSY OR A SEIZURE DISORDER. 

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

7 ‘‘(1) INDIVIDUALIZED EMERGENCY HEALTH

8 CARE PLAN.—The term ‘individualized emergency 

9 health care plan’ means a document developed by a 

10 student’s health care provider, in consultation with 

11 the parent of a student with epilepsy or a seizure 

12 disorder, other appropriate medical professionals 

13 who may be providing epilepsy or seizure disorder 

14 care to the student, and the school nurse, which out15 lines a set of procedural guidelines that provide spe16 cific directions about what to do in a particular 

17 emergency situation and is signed by the health care 

18 provider, the parent, and the school nurse. 

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

20 The term ‘individualized health care plan’ means a 

21 document developed by a student’s health care pro22 vider, in consultation with the parent of a student 

23 with epilepsy or a seizure disorder, other appropriate 

24 medical professionals who may be providing epilepsy 

25 or seizure disorder care to the student, and the 

26 school nurse, which is consistent with the recVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Sep 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5065.IS S5065

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1 ommendations of the student’s health care provider 

2 and which sets out the health services needed by the 

3 student at school and is signed by the health care 

4 provider, the parent, and the school nurse. 

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

6 Secretary shall award grants to States, on a competitive 

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

8 educational agencies to carry out a program that supports 

9 students with epilepsy and seizure disorders in schools. 

10 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS.—A State that de11 sires to receive a grant under this section shall submit an 

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

13 and accompanied by such information as the Secretary 

14 may require. 

15 ‘‘(d) SUBGRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

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

17 grant under this section shall use the grant funds to 

18 award subgrants to local educational agencies to en19 able the local educational agencies to carry out a 

20 program that funds training of school personnel on 

21 seizure awareness and preparedness that covers indi22 vidualized health care plans and individualized emer23 gency health care plans for students who have epi24 lepsy or a seizure disorder. 


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

2 educational agency that desires to receive a subgrant 

3 under this subsection shall submit an application to 

4 the State at such time, in such manner, and accom5 panied by such information as the State may re6 quire. 

7 ‘‘(3) USE OF SUBGRANT FUNDS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 

9 ‘‘(i) REQUIRED USE.—A local edu10 cational agency that receives a subgrant 

11 under this subsection shall use the 

12 subgrant funds to carry out a program in 

13 the elementary schools and secondary 

14 schools served by such agency to fund 

15 training of school personnel on seizure 

16 awareness and preparedness that covers in17 dividualized health care plans and individ18 ualized emergency health care plans for 

19 students who have epilepsy or a seizure 

20 disorder. 

21 ‘‘(ii) PERMISSIVE USES.—A local edu22 cational agency that receives a subgrant 

23 under this subsection may use the 

24 subgrant funds for— 


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1 ‘‘(I) training of school personnel 

2 to administer or assist with the ad3 ministration of seizure medications; 

4 ‘‘(II) training and education of 

5 students on seizure awareness and 

6 preparedness; 

7 ‘‘(III) recruiting, hiring, and re8 taining dedicated compliance staff 

9 who are responsible for ensuring that 

10 all training and program requirements 

11 related to seizure awareness, pre12 paredness, and management are con13 sistently met; and 

14 ‘‘(IV) other activities or pro15 grams determined appropriate by the 

16 Secretary. 

17 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—It is rec18 ommended that each individualized health care 

19 plan and each individualized emergency health 

20 care plan include the following information: 

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

22 physician or advanced practice nurse out23 lining the epilepsy or seizure disorder care. 


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

2 seizure disorder for that particular student 

3 and recommended care. 

4 ‘‘(iii) Full participation in exercise 

5 and sports, and any contraindications to 

6 exercise, or accommodations that shall be 

7 made for that particular student. 

8 ‘‘(iv) Accommodations for school trips, 

9 after-school activities, class parties, and 

10 other school-related activities. 

11 ‘‘(v) Education of all school personnel 

12 about epilepsy and seizure disorders, how 

13 to recognize and provide care for epilepsy 

14 and seizure disorders, and when to call for 

15 assistance. 

16 ‘‘(vi) Medical and treatment issues 

17 that may affect the educational process of 

18 the student with epilepsy or the seizure 

19 disorder. 

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

21 and the student’s level of understanding of, 

22 the student’s epilepsy or seizure disorder. 

23 ‘‘(viii) How to maintain communica24 tion with the student, the student’s parent 


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1 and health care team, the educational 

2 staff, and the school nurse. 

3 ‘‘(C) TRAINING REQUIRED.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each local edu5 cational agency carrying out a program 

6 supported with subgrant funds shall ensure 

7 that the school nurse assigned to a par8 ticular elementary school or secondary 

9 school supported by the program— 

10 ‘‘(I) coordinates the provision of 

11 epilepsy and seizure disorder care at 

12 such school; and 

13 ‘‘(II) ensures that all staff are 

14 trained not less often than every 2 

15 years in the care of students with epi16 lepsy and seizure disorders, including 

17 staff working with school-sponsored 

18 programs outside of the regular school 

19 day, as provided in individualized 

20 health care plans and individualized 

21 emergency health care plans. 

22 ‘‘(ii) INSTRUCTION.—The training re23 quired under clause (i) shall include a De24 partment of Education-approved on-line or 

25 in-person course of instruction provided by 


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1 1 or more nonprofit national organizations 

2 that support the welfare of individuals with 

3 epilepsy and seizure disorders. 

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

5 educational agency carrying out a program sup6 ported with subgrant funds shall ensure that 

7 each school bus driver who transports a student 

8 with epilepsy or a seizure disorder receives no9 tice of the student’s condition, information on 

10 how to provide care for epilepsy or the seizure 

11 disorder, emergency contact information, epi12 lepsy and seizure disorder recognition and first 

13 aid training, and parent contact information. 

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

15 agency carrying out a program supported with 

16 subgrant funds shall ensure that the school 

17 nurse assigned to a particular elementary 

18 school or secondary school supported by the 

19 program obtains a release from each parent of 

20 a student with epilepsy or a seizure disorder 

21 who requests an individualized health care plan 

22 or an individualized emergency health care plan, 

23 to authorize the sharing of medical information 

24 between the student’s physician or advanced 

25 practice nurse and other health care providers. 


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

2 including a school nurse, a school bus driver, a 

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

4 a local educational agency, shall be held liable 

5 for any good faith act or omission consistent 

6 with the provisions of this section. Good faith 

7 shall not include willful misconduct, gross neg8 ligence, or recklessness. 

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

10 subgrant funds provided under this section shall be used 

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

12 available to carry out activities described in this section. 

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

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $34,500,000 for the period of fiscal years 2024 through 

16 2028.’’. 

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

18 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

19 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

20 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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