I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1957 

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 5, 2017 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ (for herself, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mr. POCAN, Mr. YOUNG

of Alaska, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. KING of New 

York, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. MACARTHUR, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, and Mr. 

CICILLINE) 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. 

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 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 

2 fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 

3 physical and psychological health of its victims and 

4 create conditions that negatively affect learning, 

5 thereby undermining the ability of students to 

6 achieve their full potential. 

7 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 

8 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 

9 underachievement. 

10 (3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 

11 behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 

12 to learn and participate in educational opportunities 

13 and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 

14 include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida15 tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send16 ing insulting or offensive messages through elec17 tronic communications, such as Internet sites, e18 mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes19 saging, telephone, or any other means. 

20 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 

21 harassment policies have an increased level of re22 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul23 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 

24 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, including being homeless or 

23 the child or ward of a member of the Armed 

24 Forces. 

25 ‘‘(3) Provide— 


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

2 and educational professionals describing the full 

3 range of prohibited conduct contained in such 

4 local educational agency’s discipline policies; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 

7 parents to register complaints regarding the 

8 prohibited conduct contained in such local edu9 cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 

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

11 agency officials who are designated as re12 sponsible for receiving such complaints; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu15 cational agency will establish in the resolu16 tion of such complaints. 

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

18 incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 

19 policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 

20 building level that are accurate and complete and 

21 publicly report such data at the school level and 

22 local educational agency level. The local educational 

23 agency shall ensure that victims or persons respon24 sible for such conduct are not identifiable. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Encourage positive and preventative ap2 proaches to school discipline that minimize students’ 

3 removal from instruction and ensure that students, 

4 including students described in paragraph (2), are 

5 not subject to disproportionate punishment. 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 

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

8 a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu9 cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec10 retary— 

11 ‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu12 cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 

13 4702(b)(4); and 

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

15 local educational agency efforts to address the con16 duct prohibited by the policies described in section 

17 4702(b)(1). 

18 ‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 

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

20 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 

21 and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen22 tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa23 tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ24 ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 


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1 the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef2 fective parent involvement and training programs. 

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

4 Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 

5 are subject to independent review, to determine the inci6 dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 

7 described in section 4702. 

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

9 2019, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

10 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find11 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to12 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 

13 data submitted by the States under section 4703. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 4705. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

15 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION

16 LAWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali17 date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand18 ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 

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

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

21 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 

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

23 504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

24 794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

25 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 


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

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

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

4 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

5 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil6 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

7 ‘‘(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.—Noth8 ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 

9 regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 

10 procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 

11 laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 

12 expression. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 4706. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

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

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

16 to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 

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

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

19 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

20 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

21 to section 4304 the following: 

‘‘PART G—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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