II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2410 

To address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2021 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BROWN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. 

CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. WYDEN, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. WARREN, Ms. SMITH, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

KAINE, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, 

Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MURPHY, 

Mr. PETERS, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

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 2021’’. 

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 should incorporate evidence-based discipline 

14 policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 

15 Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and other re16 storative practices that can minimize suspensions, 

17 expulsions, and other exclusionary and harmful dis18 cipline policies to ensure that students are not 

19 ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the juvenile justice sys20 tem. 

21 (8) Perpetrators of bullying and harassment 

22 often have a history of trauma or psychological dis23 tress, or have been bullied themselves. These stu24 dents, often discussed as ‘‘bully-victims’’, require adVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:04 Jul 29, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2410.IS S2410

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1 ditional trauma-informed interventions and consider2 ation. 

3 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

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

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

7 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 

8 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 

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

10 of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 

11 elementary schools and secondary schools. 

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

13 ‘‘(a) BULLYING.—In this part, the term ‘bullying’ 

14 means conduct that adversely affects the ability of one or 

15 more students to participate in or benefit from the school’s 

16 educational programs or activities by placing a student in 

17 fear of harm. 

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

19 this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 

20 State to carry out the following: 

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

22 conduct, including bullying and harassment, that— 

23 ‘‘(A) limits 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) creates 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 (including sexual ori14 entation and gender identity), disability, or reli15 gion; 

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

17 national origin, sex (including sexual orienta18 tion and gender identity), disability, or religion 

19 of a person with whom a student associates or 

20 has associated; or 

21 ‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris22 tics that may be defined by the State or local 

23 educational agency. 

24 ‘‘(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 level that are accurate and complete and publicly re21 port such data at the school level and local edu22 cational agency level. The local educational agency 

23 shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 

24 such conduct are not identifiable. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 

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

3 a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu4 cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec5 retary— 

6 ‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu7 cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 

8 4702(b)(4); and 

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

10 local educational agency efforts to address the con11 duct prohibited by the policies described in section 

12 4702(b)(1). 

13 ‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 

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

15 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 

16 and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen17 tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa18 tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ19 ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 

20 the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef21 fective parent involvement and training programs. 

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

23 Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 

24 are subject to independent review, to determine the inci25 dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 

26 described in section 4702. 


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

2 2022, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

3 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find4 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to5 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 

6 data submitted by the States under section 4703. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 4705. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

8 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION

9 LAWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali10 date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand11 ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 

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

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

14 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 

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

16 504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

17 794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

18 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 

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

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

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

22 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

23 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil24 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.—Noth2 ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 

3 regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 

4 procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 

5 laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 

6 expression. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 4706. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

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

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

10 to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 

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

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

13 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

14 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

15 to section 4644 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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