I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1648 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to address 

and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2011 

Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California (for herself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BACA, 

Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 

BORDALLO, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. 

COSTELLO, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, 

Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. AL GREEN of 

Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HANABUSA, Mr. HANNA, Mr. HASTINGS of 

Florida, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ISRAEL, 

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 

KUCINICH, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, 

Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEAL, 

Mr. OLVER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. 

PLATTS, Mr. POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mr. 

ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 

STARK, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. YARMUTH, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to address and take action to prevent bullying 

and harassment of students. 


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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 ‘‘Safe Schools Improve5 ment Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Bullying fosters a climate of fear and dis9 respect that can seriously impair the physical and 

10 psychological health of its victims and create condi11 tions that negatively affect learning, thereby under12 mining the ability of students to achieve their full 

13 potential. 

14 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 

15 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 

16 underachievement. 

17 (3) Bullying and harassment includes a range 

18 of behaviors that negatively impact a student’s abil19 ity to learn and participate in educational opportuni20 ties and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors 

21 can include hitting or punching, teasing or name22 calling, intimidation through gestures or social ex23 clusion, and sending insulting or offensive messages 

24 through electronic communications such as Internet 


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1 sites, e-mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and 

2 messaging, telephone, or any other means. 

3 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 

4 harassment policies have an increased level of re5 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul6 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 

7 frequency and number of such incidents. 

8 (5) Students have been particularly singled out 

9 for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac10 tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 

11 disability status, sexual orientation or gender iden12 tity, among other categories. 

13 (6) Some young people experience a form of 

14 bullying called relational aggression or psychological 

15 bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 

16 threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 

17 their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac18 ceptance. 

19 (7) Interventions to address bullying and har20 assment and create a positive and safe school cli21 mate, combined with evidence-based discipline poli22 cies and practices, such as Positive Behavior Inter23 ventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative prac24 tices, can minimize suspensions, expulsions, and 

25 other exclusionary discipline policies to ensure that 


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1 students are not ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the ju2 venile justice system. 

3 (8) According to a recent poll, 85 percent of 

4 Americans strongly support or somewhat support a 

5 Federal law to require schools to enforce specific 

6 rules to prevent bullying. 

7 (9) Students, parents, educators, and policy8 makers have come together to call for leadership and 

9 action to address the national crisis of bullying and 

10 harassment. 

11 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

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

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

15 ‘‘PART D—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 

16 ‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSE. 

17 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to address the problem 

18 of bullying and harassment of students in public elemen19 tary schools and secondary schools. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 4402. STATE REQUIREMENTS. 

21 ‘‘(a) STATE REPORTING, NEEDS ASSESSMENT, AND

22 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Each State that receives funds 

23 under this Act shall carry out the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) COLLECTION AND REPORT OF INFORMA25 TION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The State shall collect 

2 and report information on the incidence, preva3 lence, age of onset, perception of health risk, 

4 and perception of social disapproval of bullying 

5 and harassment by youth in elementary schools 

6 and secondary schools and communities in the 

7 State. 

8 ‘‘(B) SOURCE OF INFORMATION.—In col9 lecting information described in subparagraph 

10 (A), the State shall include information col11 lected from incident reports by school officials, 

12 anonymous student surveys, and anonymous 

13 teacher, administrator, specialized instructional 

14 support personnel, and other school personnel 

15 surveys reported to the State on a school-by16 school basis but shall not identify victims of 

17 bullying or harassment or persons accused of 

18 bullying or harassment. 

19 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—The chief executive officer 

20 of the State, in cooperation with the State edu21 cational agency, shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) submit a biennial report on the 

23 information described in this paragraph to 

24 the Secretary; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) make such information readily 

2 available to the public. 

3 ‘‘(2) NEEDS ASSESSMENT.—The State shall 

4 conduct, and publicly report the results of, a needs 

5 assessment for bullying and harassment prevention 

6 programs, which shall be based on ongoing State 

7 evaluation activities, including data on— 

8 ‘‘(A) the incidence and prevalence of re9 ported incidents of bullying and harassment; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(B) the perception of students, parents, 

12 and communities regarding their school envi13 ronment, including with respect to the preva14 lence and seriousness of incidents of bullying 

15 and harassment and the responsiveness of the 

16 school to those incidents. 

17 ‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The State shall 

18 provide technical assistance to local educational 

19 agencies and schools in their efforts to prevent and 

20 appropriately respond to incidents of bullying and 

21 harassment. 

22 ‘‘(b) AVAILABLE FUNDING FOR STATES.—To imple23 ment the requirements described in subsection (a), the 

24 State may use— 


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1 ‘‘(1) administrative funds consolidated under 

2 section 9201; or 

3 ‘‘(2) other funds available to the State under 

4 this Act, to the extent consistent with the authorized 

5 uses of such funds. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4403. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REQUIREMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY DISCIPLINE

8 POLICIES, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, AND GRIEVANCE

9 PROCEDURES.—Each local educational agency that re10 ceives funds under this Act shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) include within the agency’s comprehensive 

12 discipline policies clear prohibitions against bullying 

13 and harassment for the protection of all students; 

14 ‘‘(2) establish and monitor performance indica15 tors for incidents of bullying and harassment; 

16 ‘‘(3) provide annual notice to parents, students, 

17 and educational professionals— 

18 ‘‘(A) describing the full range of bullying 

19 and harassment conduct prohibited by the agen20 cy’s discipline policies; and 

21 ‘‘(B) reporting on the numbers and nature 

22 of bullying and harassment incidents for each 

23 school served by the local educational agency; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(4) establish and provide annual notice to stu2 dents, parents, and educational professionals of 

3 grievance procedures for students, parents, or edu4 cational professionals who seek to register com5 plaints regarding bullying and harassment prohib6 ited by the discipline policies, including— 

7 ‘‘(A) the name of the local educational 

8 agency official who is designated as responsible 

9 for receiving such complaints; and 

10 ‘‘(B) timelines that the local educational 

11 agency will follow in the resolution of such com12 plaints. 

13 ‘‘(b) AVAILABLE FUNDING FOR LOCAL EDU14 CATIONAL AGENCIES.—To implement the requirements 

15 described in subsection (a), the local educational agency 

16 may use— 

17 ‘‘(1) administrative funds consolidated under 

18 section 9203; or 

19 ‘‘(2) other funds available to the local edu20 cational agency under this Act, to the extent con21 sistent with the authorized uses of such funds. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 4404. EVALUATION. 

23 ‘‘(a) BIENNIAL EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 

24 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 

25 to combat bullying and harassment in elementary schools 


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1 and secondary schools, including implementation of the re2 quirements described in sections 4402 and 4403, including 

3 whether such programs have appreciably reduced the level 

4 of bullying and harassment and have conducted effective 

5 parent involvement and training programs. 

6 ‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION.—The Commissioner for 

7 Education Statistics shall collect data, that are subject to 

8 independent review, to determine the incidence and preva9 lence of bullying and harassment in elementary schools 

10 and secondary schools in the United States. The collected 

11 data shall include incident reports by school officials, 

12 anonymous student surveys, anonymous parent surveys, 

13 and anonymous teacher, administrator, specialized in14 structional support personnel, and other school personnel 

15 surveys. 

16 ‘‘(c) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 

17 2012, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

18 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find19 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to20 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 

21 data submitted by the States under section 

22 4402(a)(1)(C)(i). 

23 ‘‘SEC. 4405. DEFINITIONS. 

24 ‘‘In this part: 

25 ‘‘(1) BULLYING.—The term ‘bullying’— 


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1 ‘‘(A) means conduct, including an elec2 tronic communication, that adversely affects the 

3 ability of 1 or more students to participate in 

4 or benefit from the school’s educational pro5 grams or activities by placing the student (or 

6 students) in reasonable fear of physical harm; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) includes conduct that is based on— 

9 ‘‘(i) a student’s actual or perceived— 

10 ‘‘(I) race; 

11 ‘‘(II) color; 

12 ‘‘(III) national origin; 

13 ‘‘(IV) sex; 

14 ‘‘(V) disability; 

15 ‘‘(VI) sexual orientation; 

16 ‘‘(VII) gender identity; or 

17 ‘‘(VIII) religion; 

18 ‘‘(ii) any other distinguishing charac19 teristics that may be defined by a State or 

20 local educational agency; or 

21 ‘‘(iii) association with a person or 

22 group with 1 or more of the actual or per23 ceived characteristics listed in clause (i) or 

24 (ii). 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION.—The term 

2 ‘electronic communication’ means a communication 

3 transmitted by means of an electronic device, such 

4 as a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager. 

5 ‘‘(3) HARASSMENT.—The term ‘harassment’— 

6 ‘‘(A) means conduct, including an elec7 tronic communication, that adversely affects the 

8 ability of 1 or more students to participate in 

9 or benefit from the school’s educational pro10 grams or activities because the conduct, as rea11 sonably perceived by the student (or students), 

12 is so severe, persistent, or pervasive; and 

13 ‘‘(B) includes conduct that is based on— 

14 ‘‘(i) a student’s actual or perceived— 

15 ‘‘(I) race; 

16 ‘‘(II) color; 

17 ‘‘(III) national origin; 

18 ‘‘(IV) sex; 

19 ‘‘(V) disability; 

20 ‘‘(VI) sexual orientation; 

21 ‘‘(VII) gender identity; or 

22 ‘‘(VIII) religion; 

23 ‘‘(ii) any other distinguishing char24 acteristic that may be defined by a State 

25 or local educational agency; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) association with a person or 

2 group with 1 or more of the actual or per3 ceived characteristics listed in clause (i) or 

4 (ii). 

5 ‘‘SEC. 4406. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

6 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION

7 LAWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali8 date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand9 ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 

10 Federal law or law of a State or political subdivision of 

11 a State, including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

12 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 

13 Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), section 

14 504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

15 794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

16 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 

17 part are in addition to those imposed by title VI of the 

18 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title 

19 IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 

20 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

21 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil22 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

23 ‘‘(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.—Noth24 ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 

25 regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 


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1 procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 

2 laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 

3 expression. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 4407. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

5 ‘‘Nothing in this part shall be construed to prohibit 

6 a State or local entity from enacting any law with respect 

7 to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 

8 that is not inconsistent with this part.’’. 

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

10 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

11 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

12 to section 4304 the following: 

‘‘PART D—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT

‘‘Sec. 4401. Purpose. 

‘‘Sec. 4402. State requirements. 

‘‘Sec. 4403. Local educational agency requirements. 

‘‘Sec. 4404. Evaluation. 

‘‘Sec. 4405. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 4406. Effect on other laws. 

‘‘Sec. 4407. Rule of construction.’’. 

Æ 


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