II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2572 

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

and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 20, 2018 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. BENNET, Ms. 

HIRONO, Ms. HEITKAMP, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. KAINE, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND, Mr. COONS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. WARNER, Ms. 

CANTWELL, Mr. CARPER, Mr. REED, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

LEAHY, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. NELSON, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. PETERS) 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 address and take action to prevent bullying 

and harassment of students. 

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 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 

4 fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 

5 physical and psychological health of its victims and 

6 create conditions that negatively affect learning, 

7 thereby undermining the ability of students to 

8 achieve their full potential. 

9 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 

10 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 

11 underachievement. 

12 (3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 

13 behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 

14 to learn and participate in educational opportunities 

15 and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 

16 include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida17 tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send18 ing insulting or offensive messages through elec19 tronic communications, such as internet sites, e20 mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes21 saging, telephone, or any other means. 

22 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 

23 harassment policies have an increased level of re24 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul25 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 

26 frequency and number of such incidents. 


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1 (5) Students have been particularly singled out 

2 for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac3 tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 

4 disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 

5 or religion, among other categories. 

6 (6) Some young people experience a form of 

7 bullying called relational aggression or psychological 

8 bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 

9 threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 

10 their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac11 ceptance. 

12 (7) Interventions to address bullying and har13 assment conduct to create a positive and safe school 

14 climate, combined with evidence-based discipline 

15 policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 

16 Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative 

17 practices, can minimize suspensions, expulsions, and 

18 other exclusionary discipline policies to ensure that 

19 students are not ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the ju20 venile justice system. 

21 (8) According to one poll, 85 percent of Ameri22 cans strongly support or somewhat support a Fed23 eral law to require schools to enforce specific rules 

24 to prevent bullying. 


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1 (9) Students, parents, educators, and policy2 makers have come together to call for leadership and 

3 action to address the national crisis of bullying and 

4 harassment. 

5 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

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

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

9 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 

10 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 

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

12 of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 

13 elementary schools and secondary schools. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 4702. ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES. 

15 ‘‘(a) BULLYING.—In this part, the term ‘bullying’ in16 cludes cyber-bullying through electronic communications. 

17 ‘‘(b) POLICIES.—A State that receives a grant under 

18 this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 

19 State to carry out the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) Establish policies that prevent and prohibit 

21 conduct, including bullying and harassment, that is 

22 sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive— 

23 ‘‘(A) to limit a student’s ability to partici24 pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 


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1 of a public school or local educational agency; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(B) to create a hostile or abusive edu4 cational environment, adversely affecting a stu5 dent’s education, at a program or activity of a 

6 public school or local educational agency, in7 cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 

8 aggression or intimidation. 

9 ‘‘(2) The policies required under paragraph (1) 

10 shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 

11 conduct based on— 

12 ‘‘(A) a student’s actual or perceived race, 

13 color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual ori14 entation, gender identity, or religion; 

15 ‘‘(B) the actual or perceived race, color, 

16 national origin, sex, disability, sexual orienta17 tion, gender identity, or religion of a person 

18 with whom a student associates or has associ19 ated; or 

20 ‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris21 tics that may be defined by the State or local 

22 educational agency. 

23 ‘‘(3) Provide— 

24 ‘‘(A) annual notice to students, parents, 

25 and educational professionals describing the full 


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1 range of prohibited conduct contained in such 

2 local educational agency’s discipline policies; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 

5 parents to register complaints regarding the 

6 prohibited conduct contained in such local edu7 cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 

8 ‘‘(i) the name of the local educational 

9 agency officials who are designated as re10 sponsible for receiving such complaints; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu13 cational agency will establish in the resolu14 tion of such complaints. 

15 ‘‘(4) Collect annual incidence and frequency of 

16 incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 

17 policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 

18 level that are accurate and complete and publicly re19 port such data at the school level and local edu20 cational agency level. The local educational agency 

21 shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 

22 such conduct are not identifiable. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 

24 ‘‘The chief executive officer of a State that receives 

25 a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Mar 28, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2572.IS S2572

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1 cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec2 retary— 

3 ‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu4 cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 

5 4702(b)(4); and 

6 ‘‘(2) describing the State’s plans for supporting 

7 local educational agency efforts to address the con8 duct prohibited by the policies described in section 

9 4702(b)(1). 

10 ‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 

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

12 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 

13 and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen14 tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa15 tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ16 ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 

17 the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef18 fective parent involvement and training programs. 

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

20 Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 

21 are subject to independent review, to determine the inci22 dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 

23 described in section 4702. 

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

25 2019, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 


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1 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find2 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to3 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 

4 data submitted by the States under section 4703. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 4705. 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. 4706. 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 4644 the following: 

‘‘PART D—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT

‘‘Sec. 4701. Purpose. 

‘‘Sec. 4702. Anti-bullying policies. 

‘‘Sec. 4703. State reports. 

‘‘Sec. 4704. Evaluation. 

‘‘Sec. 4705. Effect on other laws. 

‘‘Sec. 4706. Rule of construction.’’. 

Æ 


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