II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 969

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the GunFree Schools Act of 1994 to authorize schools to apply appropriate

discipline measures in cases where students have weapons or threaten

to harm others, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 5, 1999

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

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

A BILL

To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

and the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 to authorize

schools to apply appropriate discipline measures in cases

where students have weapons or threaten to harm others,

and for other purposes.

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 my be cited as the ‘‘School Safety Act of

5 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL2 ITIES EDUCATION ACT.

3 (a) PLACEMENT IN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL

4 SETTINGS.—Section 615(k) of the Individual with Disabil5 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)) is amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking ‘‘45

7 days if—’’ and all that follows through ‘‘(II) the

8 child’’ and inserting ‘‘45 days if the child’’;

9 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘A hearing’’

10 and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph

11 (10), a hearing’’;

12 (3) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para13 graph (11);

14 (4) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol15 lowing new section:

16 ‘‘(10) EXPULSION OR SUSPENSION WITH RE17 SPECT TO WEAPONS.—

18 ‘‘(A) AUTHORITY OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL

19 WITH RESPECT TO WEAPONS.—Notwithstanding

20 any other provision of this Act, school personnel

21 may suspend or expel a child with a disability

22 who—

23 ‘‘(i) carries or possesses a weapon to

24 or at a school, on school premises, or to or

25 at a school function under the jurisdiction

26 of a State or a local educational agency; or
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1 ‘‘(ii) threatens to carry, possess, or

2 use a weapon to or at a school, on school

3 premises, or to or at a school function

4 under the jurisdiction of a State or a local

5 educational agency;

6 in the same manner in which such personnel

7 would suspend or expel a child without a dis8 ability.

9 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of

10 this paragraph:

11 ‘‘(i) WEAPON.—The term ‘weapon’

12 has the meaning given the term under ap13 plicable State law.

14 ‘‘(ii) THREATENS TO CARRY, POSSESS,

15 OR USE A WEAPON.—The term ‘threatens

16 to carry, possess, or use a weapon’ includes

17 behavior in which a child verbally threatens

18 to kill another person.

19 ‘‘(C) FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDU20 CATION.—

21 ‘‘(i) CEASING TO PROVIDE EDU22 CATION.—A child expelled or suspended

23 under subparagraph (A) shall not be enti24 tled to continued educational services, in25 cluding, but not limited to a free appro-
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1 priate public education, under this Act,

2 during the term of such expulsion or sus3 pension, if the State in which the local

4 educational agency responsible for pro5 viding educational services to such child

6 does not require a child without a dis7 ability to receive educational services after

8 being suspended or expelled.

9 ‘‘(ii) PROVIDING EDUCATION.—Not10 withstanding clause (i), the local edu11 cational agency responsible for providing

12 educational services to a child with a dis13 ability who is expelled or suspended under

14 subparagraph (A) may choose to continue

15 to provide educational services to such

16 child. If the local educational agency so

17 chooses, then—

18 ‘‘(I) nothing in this Act shall re19 quire the local educational agency to

20 provide such child with a free appro21 priate public education, or any par22 ticular level of service; and

23 ‘‘(II) the site where the local edu24 cational agency provides the services
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1 shall be left to the discretion of the

2 local educational agency.’’.

3 (5) in paragraph (11) (as redesignated in para4 graph (3)), by striking subparagraph (D).

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

6 (1) Section 612(a)(1)(A) of the Individuals with

7 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.

8 1412(a)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting before the

9 period ‘‘(except as provided in section 615(k)(10))’’.

10 (2) Section 615(f)(1) of the Individuals with

11 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(f)(1)) is

12 amended by inserting at the beginning of the first

13 sentence ‘‘Except as provided in section

14 615(k)(10),’’.

15 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE GUN-FREE SCHOOLS ACT OF

16 1994.

17 Subsection (c) of section 14601 of the Gun-Free

18 Schools Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 8921) is amended to read

19 as follows:

20 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE.—Notwithstanding any other

21 provision of this section, this section shall be subject to

22 section 615(k)(10) of the Individual with Disabilities Edu23 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(10)).’’.

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