II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2125 

To divert Federal funding away from supporting the presence of police in 

schools and toward evidence-based and trauma informed services that 

address the needs of marginalized students and improve academic outcomes, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 17, 2021 

Mr. MURPHY (for himself, Ms. WARREN, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To divert Federal funding away from supporting the presence 

of police in schools and toward evidence-based and trauma informed services that address the needs of 

marginalized students and improve academic outcomes, 

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 may be cited as the ‘‘Counseling Not Crim5 inalization in Schools Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2125 IS

1 (1) Over the last 50 years, our Nation’s schools 

2 have become sites for increased criminalization and 

3 surveillance of young people, particularly Black, Na4 tive American, and Latino students, immigrant stu5 dents, students with disabilities, LGBTQ students, 

6 students experiencing homelessness, students in7 volved in the foster care system, and other histori8 cally marginalized students. 

9 (2) Despite significant decreases in the rate of 

10 serious crimes and violence on school campuses over 

11 the past 20 years, improving upon already low rates, 

12 67 percent of high school students, 45 percent of 

13 middle school students, and 19 percent of elemen14 tary school students attend a school with a police of15 ficer. 

16 (3) Since 1999, the Federal Government has in17 vested more than $1,000,000,000 to subsidize the 

18 placement of police in schools, resulting in roughly 

19 46,000 school resource officers patrolling the halls of 

20 elementary and secondary public schools across the 

21 Nation. 

22 (4) A growing body of research has not found 

23 any evidence that school resource officers make 

24 schools safer, and school resource officers have been 

25 shown to increase the likelihood that children will be 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2125 IS

1 arrested, often by the school resource officer while 

2 on campus. 

3 (5) Research has shown that schools with a des4 ignated law enforcement officer on duty arrested 

5 students at 5 times the rate of comparable schools 

6 without such an officer. 

7 (6) When police are present in schools, students 

8 of color face an increased risk of being assaulted by 

9 police. Student-recorded videos of police violence in 

10 schools regularly circulate through news channels, 

11 articles, and social media, exposing violence per12 petrated by police within schoolhouse gates. 

13 (7) Black, Native American, and Latino stu14 dents are more likely than their white peers to at15 tend schools with police officers on campus and are 

16 more likely to be referred to law enforcement or ar17 rested while in school. 

18 (8) Black students represent 31 percent of all 

19 school-related arrests, despite making up only 15 

20 percent of all public school students, and are 3 times 

21 more likely to be suspended or expelled than white 

22 students. Native American and Pacific Islander and 

23 Native Hawaiian students are more than twice as 

24 likely to be arrested as white students. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2125 IS

1 (9) Students with disabilities are more likely 

2 than their peers without disabilities to be referred to 

3 law enforcement or arrested. Students of color with 

4 disabilities are more likely to be referred to law en5 forcement than either their white peers with disabil6 ities, or their peers of color without disabilities. 

7 These students are also disproportionately restrained 

8 and secluded in schools. Of the 87,000 students who 

9 were restrained during the 2015–2016 school year, 

10 71 percent received special education services and 27 

11 percent of students restrained were Black. 

12 (10) According to the Department of Edu13 cation, while Black girls comprise only 16 percent of 

14 girls in elementary and secondary schools, they make 

15 up 42 percent of girls receiving the most severe 

16 forms of school discipline and severe punishment, 

17 such as corporal punishment, and represent 34 per18 cent of girls arrested on campus. 

19 (11) Research shows that these racial dispari20 ties in discipline rates are not a result of differences 

21 in student behavior but instead reflect the ways in 

22 which students of color face more punitive discipline 

23 than their white peers for similar behavior. 

24 (12) Students who are LGBTQ often have 

25 intersecting marginalized identities and experience 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2125 IS

1 exclusionary discipline at disproportionate rates that 

2 make it more likely they will interact with the juve3 nile justice system than their non-LGBTQ peers. 

4 (13) Students who are suspended or expelled 

5 are nearly threefold more likely to be in contact with 

6 the juvenile justice system the following year. 

7 (14) According to the Federal Bureau of Inves8 tigation, more than 30,000 children under the age of 

9 10 were arrested since 2013. On school campuses, 

10 more than 290,000 students were referred to law en11 forcement. The United States spends $240 daily, on 

12 average, per youth detained in juvenile facilities. 

13 (15) While schools should be sanctuaries for all 

14 students, reports have shown instances where school 

15 resource officers collect tips and disciplinary infor16 mation from teachers and school administrators and 

17 share it with U.S. Immigration and Customs En18 forcement agents to build deportation cases against 

19 students and their families. 

20 (16) School hardening, including the presence 

21 of school resource officers on campus, causes stu22 dents to experience higher levels of fear, perpetuate 

23 the school to prison pipeline, and undermine the 

24 ability of schools and educators to build learning enVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2125.IS S2125

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2125 IS

1 vironments undergirded by mutual trust, respect, 

2 and safety. 

3 (17) Ninety percent of students are in public 

4 schools where the number of counselors, social work5 ers, nurses, and psychologists do not meet rec6 ommended professional standards. Professional 

7 standards recommend at least 1 counselor and 1 so8 cial worker for every 250 students and at least 1 

9 nurse and 1 psychologist for every 750 students and 

10 every 700 students, respectively. 

11 (18) 1,700,000 students attend schools with po12 lice but not 1 counselor. 

13 (19) 3,000,000 students attend schools with po14 lice but not 1 school nurse. 

15 (20) 6,000,000 students attend schools with po16 lice but no school psychologists. 

17 (21) 10,000,000 students attend schools with 

18 police but no social workers. 

19 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

20 It is the purpose of this Act to— 

21 (1) address the needs of marginalized students, 

22 ensure schools are welcoming for students, and im23 prove academic outcomes by eliminating Federal 

24 funding for maintaining the presence of covered law 

25 enforcement officers in schools and establishing a 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2125 IS

1 continuum of care and positive schoolwide systems 

2 of services that are evidence-based, inclusive, racially 

3 and gender responsive, and trauma informed; and 

4 (2) support local educational agencies that 

5 choose to terminate their contracts with local law en6 forcement agencies or, where applicable, dissolve or 

7 disband district-based police departments, and invest 

8 resources in personnel and services that create truly 

9 safe and inclusive schools for all students based on 

10 community engagement and deliberative consulta11 tion. 

12 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

15 school’’, ‘‘evidence-based’’, ‘‘local educational agen16 cy’’, ‘‘parent’’, ‘‘professional development’’, ‘‘school 

17 leader’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, and ‘‘spe18 cialized instructional support personnel’’ have the 

19 meaning given those terms in section 8101 of the 

20 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

21 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

22 (2) COVERED PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘covered 

23 program’’ means— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2125 IS

1 (A) all the operations of an elementary 

2 school, a secondary school, or a local edu3 cational agency; or 

4 (B) a program that serves children who re5 ceive services for which financial assistance is 

6 provided in accordance with the Head Start Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). 

8 (3) POSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS

9 AND SUPPORTS.—The term ‘‘positive behavioral 

10 interventions and supports’’ means— 

11 (A) a schoolwide, systematic approach that 

12 embeds evidence-based practices and data-driv13 en decisionmaking to improve school climate 

14 and culture in order to achieve improved aca15 demic and social outcomes and increase learn16 ing for all students (including students with the 

17 most complex and intensive behavioral needs); 

18 and 

19 (B) encompasses a range of systemic and 

20 individualized positive strategies to teach and 

21 reinforce school-expected behaviors, while dis22 couraging and diminishing undesirable behav23 iors. 

24 (4) COVERED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 

25 The term ‘‘covered law enforcement officer’’— 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 2125 IS

1 (A) means any person who— 

2 (i) is a State, Tribal, or local law en3 forcement officer (as defined in section 

4 1204 of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

5 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

6 10284)); and 

7 (ii) is assigned by the employing law 

8 enforcement agency to a covered program, 

9 who is contracting with a covered program, 

10 or who is employed by a covered program; 

11 and 

12 (B) includes an individual referred to as a 

13 ‘‘school resource officer’’ if that individual 

14 meets the definition in subparagraph (A). 

15 (5) TRAUMA-INFORMED SERVICES.—The term 

16 ‘‘trauma-informed services’’ means a service delivery 

17 approach that— 

18 (A) recognizes and responds to the impacts 

19 of trauma with evidence-based supports and 

20 intervention; 

21 (B) emphasizes physical, psychological, and 

22 emotional safety for both providers of services 

23 and survivors of trauma; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 2125 IS

1 (C) creates opportunities for survivors of 

2 trauma to rebuild a sense of healing and em3 powerment. 

4 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR POLICE IN 

5 SCHOOLS. 

6 (a) FEDERAL FUNDS PROHIBITION.—Notwith7 standing the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 

8 of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.), including subpart 1 

9 of part E of title I of that Act (34 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.) 

10 (relating to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assist11 ance Grant Program) and part Q of title I of that Act 

12 (34 U.S.C. 13081 et seq.) (relating to the ‘‘Cops on the 

13 Beat’’ grant program), or any other provision of law, no 

14 Federal funds may be appropriated or used for hiring, 

15 maintaining, or training covered law enforcement officers 

16 in any capacity. 

17 (b) COPS GRANT PROGRAM.—Section 1701 of title 

18 I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

19 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (b)— 

21 (A) by striking paragraph (12); 

22 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (13) 

23 through (23) as paragraphs (12) through (22), 

24 respectively; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
11 

•S 2125 IS

1 (C) in paragraph (21), as so redesignated, 

2 by striking ‘‘through (21)’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘through (20)’’; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(n) PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR COVERED

6 LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—A recipient of a grant 

7 under this part may not use the grant funds for covered 

8 law enforcement officers (as defined in section 4 of the 

9 Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act).’’. 

10 SEC. 6. SUPPORTING LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES IN 

11 TRANSITIONING AWAY FROM POLICE IN 

12 SCHOOLS. 

13 (a) GRANT PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—The Secretary 

14 of Education shall award grants, on a competitive and roll15 ing basis, to local educational agencies to enable those 

16 local educational agencies— 

17 (1) to replace covered law enforcement officers 

18 in elementary and secondary schools with personnel 

19 and services that support mental health and trauma20 informed services; and 

21 (2) to reform school safety and disciplinary 

22 policies so they reflect evidence-based practices that 

23 do not rely on the criminal justice system and pro24 vide the necessary staff training and support to im25 plement such policies. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
12 

•S 2125 IS

1 (b) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency desir2 ing a grant under this section shall submit an application 

3 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con4 taining such information as the Secretary may require, in5 cluding an assurance that— 

6 (1) the local educational agency will terminate 

7 any existing contract with local law enforcement or, 

8 where applicable, dissolve school district-based police 

9 departments, at least 30 days prior to the entity re10 ceiving funds under this section; and 

11 (2) the local educational agency will not estab12 lish any new contract with law enforcement or create 

13 its own school police department for the duration of 

14 the grant. 

15 (c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec16 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to— 

17 (1) local educational agencies that terminated 

18 their contract with all law enforcement or disbanded 

19 their school district police department prior to sub20 mitting an application and provide assurances that 

21 the local educational agency will not create or re22 start a contract with State or local law enforcement, 

23 create or reinstate a school district police depart24 ment, or create or restart a program of other armed 

25 school personnel during the duration of this grant; 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
13 

•S 2125 IS

1 (2) local educational agencies with a larger 

2 share of students who are economically disadvan3 taged, in the event that funds are insufficient to 

4 award grants to all eligible applicants; and 

5 (3) local educational agencies that identify the 

6 uses of funds in subsection (d) based on meaningful 

7 community engagement and deliberative consulta8 tion. 

9 (d) USES OF FUNDS.— 

10 (1) REQUIRED USE.—A local educational agen11 cy receiving funds under this section shall use such 

12 grant funds to hire or train school counselors, school 

13 psychologists, nurses, or social workers, community 

14 health workers and trauma-informed personnel, 

15 dedicated staff specifically trained in deescalation 

16 and violence interruption practices, staff trained in 

17 anti-bias practices, doctoral level specialists in be18 havior planning and intervention, or other specialists 

19 or individuals with expertise in school climate and 

20 behavior. 

21 (2) PERMITTED USES.—In addition to the re22 quired use described in paragraph (1), a local edu23 cational agency receiving funds under this section 

24 may also use grant funds to carry out 1 or more of 

25 the following: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
14 

•S 2125 IS

1 (A) Implementing schoolwide positive be2 havioral interventions and supports, restorative 

3 justice programs and interventions, mediators, 

4 social and emotional learning programs, or 

5 other evidence-based trauma-informed services. 

6 (B) Providing professional development to 

7 teachers, teacher assistants, school leaders, 

8 counselors, specialized instructional support 

9 personnel, and mental health professionals 

10 that— 

11 (i) fosters safe, inclusive, and stable 

12 learning environments that support the so13 cial, emotional, mental, and academic well14 being of students and prevent and mitigate 

15 the effects of trauma, including through 

16 social and emotional learning; 

17 (ii) improves school capacity to iden18 tify, refer, and provide services to students 

19 in need of trauma support services; 

20 (iii) reflects the best practices for 

21 trauma-informed identification, referral, 

22 and support developed by the Interagency 

23 Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care; 

24 (iv) reduces the number of students 

25 with disabilities experiencing school disVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2125.IS S2125

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
15 

•S 2125 IS

1 cipline for their disability-related behavior 

2 through specific training on the identifica3 tion, development, and implementation of 

4 Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs); and 

5 (v) reduces the number of Black, 

6 Latino, Native American, and LGBTQ stu7 dents who are disciplined for minor, age8 appropriate behaviors that should be ad9 dressed through evidence-based, trauma-in10 formed services and support. 

11 (e) PROHIBITION.—No portion of any grant funds 

12 awarded under this section may be used for— 

13 (1) the development, establishment, implemen14 tation, or enforcement of zero-tolerance school dis15 cipline policies, including the commission, con16 tracting of, or agreements with law enforcement that 

17 support the presence of police in schools, including 

18 formal or informal partnerships or data and infor19 mation sharing agreements with the Department of 

20 Justice or Secretary of Homeland Security, includ21 ing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or 

22 U.S. Customs and Border Protection; 

23 (2) the purchase, maintenance, or installation 

24 of surveillance equipment, including metal detectors, 

25 facial recognition technology, or software programs 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
16 

•S 2125 IS

1 that monitor or mine the social media use or tech2 nology use of students; or 

3 (3) arming teachers, principals, school leaders, 

4 or other school personnel. 

5 (f) GRANT AMOUNTS.—The amount of grant funds 

6 received under this section by a local educational agency 

7 shall be based on the number of students enrolled in the 

8 local educational agency. 

9 (g) REPORTING.—Each local educational agency re10 ceiving a grant under this section shall prepare and submit 

11 a report to the Secretary containing information about— 

12 (1) how the grant funds were used; 

13 (2) the number of students who were arrested 

14 by or referred to law enforcement officers in the pre15 vious year compared to the number arrested or re16 ferred during the term of the grant; 

17 (3) the reasons for arrests; and 

18 (4) demographic data of students arrested or 

19 referred to law enforcement officers, disaggregated 

20 by race, ethnicity, age, gender, sex and sexual ori21 entation, status as a child with a disability, and so22 cioeconomic status. 

23 (h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A local edu24 cational agency shall use Federal funds received under this 

25 section only to supplement the funds that would, in the 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
17 

•S 2125 IS

1 absence of such Federal funds, be made available from 

2 State and local sources for the activities described in sub3 section (d), and not to supplant such funds 

4 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

6 $5,000,000,000. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS