I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 3390

To provide assistance to local elementary schools through its local educational

agency for the prevention and reduction of conflict and violence.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 27, 1993

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and Labor

A BILL

To provide assistance to local elementary schools through

its local educational agency for the prevention and reduction of conflict and violence.

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 ‘‘Conflict Resolution and

5 Mediation Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the violence within elementary schools

9 across the Nation has escalated dramatically during
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1 the past 5 years, spreading from inner cities to the

2 suburbs;

3 (2) violence is devastating the future generation

4 of our children, who are committing more serious

5 crimes than ever before;

6 (3) juveniles between the ages of 10 and 17 ac7 counted for 17 percent of all violent-crime arrests in

8 1991;

9 (4) between 1987 and 1991, the number of

10 youths arrested for murder around the country in11 creased by 85 percent;

12 (5) 13 percent of all incidents involving guns in

13 schools occur in elementary and preschools;

14 (6) an estimated 100,000 children bring guns

15 to school every day and that some 2,000 students

16 and 40 teachers are attacked every hour;

17 (7) discipline problems plague classrooms and

18 schools;

19 (8) conflicts involving racial and cultural dif20 ferences are increasing, truancy is epidemic, and vio21 lence is escalating;

22 (9) conflicts among students and between stu23 dents and staff occur with frequency and consume

24 considerable teacher and administrator time;
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1 (10) greater attempts are needed for establish2 ing and maintaining a conducive atmosphere for

3 educating children in potentially hostile school envi4 ronments; and

5 (11) local educational agencies are already fi6 nancially overwhelmed with trying to meet edu7 cational needs, therefore Federal resources are need8 ed to help confront violence and crime within the

9 schools.

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

11 assistance to local elementary schools through its local

12 educational agency for the prevention and reduction of

13 conflict and violence in schools throughout the country.

14 SEC. 3. CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND MEDIATION PROGRAM

15 AUTHORIZED.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education is au17 thorized to make grants to local elementary schools to pro18 vide assistance to schools most directly affected by conflict

19 and violence.

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

21 a written model for conflict resolution and mediation writ22 ten within 90 days and make such model available to any

23 local elementary school that requests such information.

24 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

25 are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal
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1 year 1994 and such sums as may be necessary for each

2 of the fiscal years 1995 through 1999 to carry out the

3 projects under this Act.

4 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS.

5 Grants made by the Secretary under this Act shall

6 be used to develop programs for conflict resolution and

7 mediation for students, teachers, and other personnel in

8 regular contact with students at school.

9 SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.

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

11 a grant under this Act for any fiscal year, a local elemen12 tary school shall submit an application to the Secretary

13 in such form and containing such information as the Sec14 retary may reasonably require.

15 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Each application under sub16 section (a) shall include—

17 (1) a request for funds for the purposes de18 scribed in section 2(b);

19 (2) information of the school and communities

20 to be served by the grant, including the nature of

21 the conflict and violence problems within and around

22 the school;

23 (3) statistical information in such form and

24 containing such information that the Secretary may
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1 require regarding conflict and violence within the el2 ementary school and surrounding communities; and

3 (4) 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.

7 (c) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.—Each application shall

8 include a comprehensive plan that shall contain—

9 (1) a description of the conflict and violence

10 problems within the elementary school and sur11 rounding community targeted for assistance;

12 (2) a description of the resources available in

13 the community to help implement the plan together

14 with a description of the areas in the plan that can15 not be filled with existing resources; and

16 (3) a description of the system the applicant

17 will establish to prevent and reduce ongoing conflict

18 and violence problems.

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

20 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE COST LIMITATION.—The Sec21 retary shall use not more than 5 percent of the funds

22 available under this Act for the purposes of administration

23 and technical assistance.

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

25 may be renewed for not more than 2 additional years after
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1 the first fiscal year during which the recipient receives an

2 initial grant under this Act, subject to the availability of

3 funds, if—

4 (1) the Secretary determines that the funds

5 made available to the recipient during the previous

6 year were used in a manner required under the ap7 proved application; and

8 (2) the Secretary determines that an additional

9 grant is necessary to implement the violence preven10 tion program described in the comprehensive plan as

11 required by section 5(c).

12 SEC. 7. AWARD OF GRANTS.

13 (a) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary

14 shall consider the following factors in awarding grants to

15 local elementary schools:

16 (1) CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE PROBLEM.—The

17 nature and scope of the violence problem in the tar18 geted schools.

19 (2) NEED AND ABILITY.—Demonstrated need

20 and evidence of the ability to provide the services de21 scribed in the plan required under section 5(c).

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

23 be served by the plan required under section 5(c).
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1 (b) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary

2 shall attempt, to the extent practicable, to achieve an equi3 table geographic distribution of grant awards.

4 SEC. 8. REPORTS.

5 (a) REPORTS.—Local elementary schools that receive

6 funds under this Act shall submit to the Secretary a de7 tailed report not later than March 1 of each year that de8 scribes progress achieved in carrying out the plan required

9 under section 5(c).

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

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

12 in which grants are made available under this Act which

13 shall contain a detailed statement regarding grant awards,

14 activities of grant recipients, a compilation of statistical

15 information submitted by applicants under section

16 5(b)(3), and an evaluation of programs established under

17 this Act.

18 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

19 For the purpose of this Act:

20 (1) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has

21 the same meaning given such term under section

22 1471(12) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu23 cation Act of 1965.

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

25 of Education.
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