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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1125

To help local school systems achieve Goal Six of the National Education

Goals, which provides that by the year 2000, every school in America

will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment

conducive to learning, by ensuring that all schools are safe and free

of violence.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 17 (legislative day, JUNE 15), 1993

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mrs. KASSEBAUM, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. JEFFORDS,

and Mr. PELL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To help local school systems achieve Goal Six of the National

Education Goals, which provides that by the year 2000,

every school in America will be free of drugs and violence

and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to

learning, by ensuring that all schools are safe and free

of violence.

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

3 That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe School Act of

4 1993’’.
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1 SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAM AUTHORIZED

2 SEC. 2. (a) With funds appropriated under subsection

3 (b)(1), the Secretary shall make competitive grants to eli4 gible local educational agencies to carry out projects de5 signed to achieve Goal Six of the National Education

6 Goals by helping to ensure that all schools are safe and

7 free of violence.

8 (b)(1) There are authorized to be appropriated to

9 carry out this Act $75,000,000 for fiscal year 1994,

10 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and such sums as may

11 be necessary for fiscal year 1996 and each of the two suc12 ceeding fiscal years.

13 (2) The Secretary is authorized each fiscal year to

14 reserve no more than 5 percent of the amount appro15 priated under subsection (b)(1) to carry out national lead16 ership activities described in section 6.

17 ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

18 SEC. 3. (a) To be eligible to receive a grant under

19 this Act, a local educational agency shall demonstrate in

20 its application under section 4(a) that it—

21 (1) receives assistance under section 1006 of

22 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

23 1965 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘ESEA’’) or

24 meets the criteria of clauses (i) and (ii) of section

25 1006(a)(1)(A);
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1 (2) services an area in which there is a high

2 rate of—

3 (A) homicides committed by persons be4 tween the ages 5 to 18, inclusive;

5 (B) referrals of youth to juvenile court;

6 (C) youth under the supervision of the

7 courts;

8 (D) expulsions and suspension of students

9 from school;

10 (E) referrals of youth, for disciplinary rea11 sons, to alternative schools; or

12 (F) victimization of youth by violence,

13 crime, or other forms of abuse; and

14 (3) has serious school crime, violence, and dis15 cipline problems, as indicated by other appropriate

16 data.

17 (b) For the purpose of this Act—

18 (1) ‘‘the term local educational agency’’ has the

19 same meaning given in section 1471(12) of the

20 ESEA;

21 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

22 of Education.

23 APPLICATIONS AND PLANS

24 SEC. 4. (a) In order to receive a grant under this

25 Act, an eligible local educational agency shall submit to

26 the Secretary an application that includes—
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1 (1) an assessment of the current violence and

2 crime problems in the schools to be served by the

3 grant and in the community to be served by the

4 applicant;

5 (2) an assurance that the applicant has written

6 policies regarding school safety, student discipline,

7 and the appropriate handling of violent or disruptive

8 acts;

9 (3) a description of the schools and commu10 nities to be served by the grant, the activities and

11 projects to be carried out with grant funds, and how

12 these activities and projects will help to reduce the

13 current violence and crime problems in the schools

14 and communities served;

15 (4) if the local educational agency receives

16 funds under Goals 2000: Educate America Act, an

17 explanation of how activities assisted under this Act

18 will be coordinated with and support its systemic

19 education improvement plan prepared under that

20 Act;

21 (5) the applicant’s plan to establish school-level

22 advisory committees, which include faculty, parents,

23 staff, and students, for each school to be served by

24 the grant and a description of how each committee

25 will assist in assessing that school’s violence and dis-
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1 cipline problems as well as in designing appropriate

2 programs, policies, and practices to combat those

3 problems;

4 (6) the applicant’s plan for collecting baseline

5 and future data, by individual schools, to monitor vi6 olence and discipline problems and to measure its

7 progress in achieving the purpose of this Act;

8 (7) an assurance that grant funds under this

9 Act will be used to supplement and not to supplant

10 State and local funds that would, in the absence of

11 funds under this Act, be made available by the appli12 cant for the purposes of the grant;

13 (8) an assurance that the applicant will cooper14 ate with, and provide assistance to, the Secretary in

15 gathering statistics and other data the Secretary de16 termines are necessary to determine the effectiveness

17 of projects and activities under this Act or the ex18 tent of school violence and discipline problems

19 throughout the Nation; and

20 (9) such other information as the Secretary

21 may require.

22 (b) In order to receive funds under this Act for the

23 second year of a project, a grantee shall submit to the

24 Secretary its comprehensive, long-term, school safety plan
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1 for combating and preventing school violence and dis2 cipline problems. Such plan must contain—

3 (1) a description of how the grantee will coordi4 nate its school crime and violence prevention efforts

5 with education, law-enforcement, judicial, health, so6 cial service, and other appropriate agencies and or7 ganizations serving the community; and

8 (2) if the grantee receives funds under the

9 Goals 2000: Educate America Act, an explanation of

10 how the grantee’s comprehensive plan under this

11 subsection is consistent with and supports its sys12 temic education improvement plan prepared under

13 that Act, if such explanation differs from that pro14 vided in the grantee’s application.

15 GRANTS AND USE OF FUNDS

16 SEC. 5. (a) Grants under this Act may not exceed—

17 (1) two years in duration; and

18 (2) $3,000,000 for each year.

19 (b)(1) A local educational agency may use funds

20 awarded under section 2(a) for one or more of the follow21 ing activities—

22 (A) identifying and assessing school violence

23 and discipline problems, including coordinating

24 needs assessment activities and education, law-en25 forcement, judicial, health, social service, and other

26 appropriate agencies and organizations;
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1 (B) conducting school safety reviews or violence

2 prevention reviews of programs, policies, practices,

3 and facilities to determine what changes are needed

4 to reduce or prevent violence and promote safety and

5 discipline;

6 (C) planning for comprehensive, long-term

7 strategies for combating and preventing school vio8 lence and discipline problems through the involve9 ment and coordination of school programs with other

10 education, law-enforcement, judicial, health, social

11 service, and other appropriate agencies and organi12 zations;

13 (D) community education programs involving

14 parents, businesses, local government, the media,

15 and other appropriate entities about the local edu16 cational agency’s plan to promote school safety and

17 reduce and prevent school violence and discipline

18 problems and the need for community support;

19 (E) coordination of school-based activities de20 signed to promote school safety and reduce or pre21 vent school violence and discipline problems with re22 lated efforts of education, law-enforcement, judicial,

23 health, social service, and other appropriate agencies

24 and organizations;
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1 (F) developing and implementing violence pre2 vention activities, including—

3 (i) conflict resolution and social skills de4 velopment for students, teachers, aides, other

5 school personnel, and parents;

6 (ii) disciplinary alternatives to expulsion

7 and suspension of students who exhibit violent

8 or anti-social behavior;

9 (iii) student-led activities such as peer me10 diation, peer counseling, and student courts; or

11 (iv) alternative after-school programs that

12 provide safe havens for students, which may in13 clude cultural, recreational, and educational and

14 instructional activities;

15 (G) educating students and parents about the

16 dangers of guns and other weapons and the con17 sequences of their use;

18 (H) developing and implementing innovative

19 curricula to prevent violence in schools and training

20 staff how to stop disruptive or violent behavior if it

21 occurs;

22 (I) supporting ‘‘safe zones of passage’’ for stu23 dents between home and school through such meas24 ures as Drug- and Weapon-Free School Zones, en25 hanced law enforcement, and neighborhood patrols;
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1 (J) counseling programs for victims and wit2 nesses of school violence and crime;

3 (K) minor remodeling to promote security and

4 reduce the risk of violence, such as removing lockers,

5 installing better lights, and upgrading locks;

6 (L) acquiring and installing metal detectors and

7 hiring security personnel;

8 (M) reimbursing law enforcement authorities

9 for their personnel who participate in school violence

10 prevention activities;

11 (N) evaluating its project under this Act;

12 (O) the cost of administering its project under

13 this Act; and

14 (P) other activities that meet the purposes of

15 this Act.

16 (2) A local educational agency may use no more

17 than—

18 (A) a total of 33 percent of its grant for activi19 ties described in paragraph (1)(K), (L), and (M);

20 and

21 (B) 5 percent of its grant for activities de22 scribed in paragraph (1)(O)

23 (3) A local educational agency may not use funds

24 under this Act for construction.
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1 NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

2 SEC. 6. To carry out the purpose of this Act, the Sec3 retary is authorized to use funds reserved under section

4 2(b)(2) to conduct national leadership activities such as

5 research, program development and evaluation, data col6 lection, public awareness activities, training and technical

7 assistance, and peer review of applications under this Act.

8 The Secretary may carry out such activities directly,

9 through interagency agreements, or through grants, con10 tracts, or cooperative agreements.

11 EFFECTIVE DATE

12 SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect upon enactment.

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