I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4000 

To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention and 

reduction of conflict and violence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2009 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the 

prevention and reduction of conflict and violence. 

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 ‘‘Conflict Resolution and 

5 Mediation Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) On Wednesday, October 7, 2009, in a 

9 speech detailing the violence that our youth face, 

10 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted that, 


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1 currently, 30 percent of students, or about 

2 1,200,000 students a year, fail to complete high 

3 school on time. 

4 (2) The Division of Violence Prevention within 

5 the Centers for Disease Control observed that ‘‘vio6 lence diminishes and destroys the quality of life and 

7 freedom of individuals, families and communities 

8 . . . young people cannot learn and succeed in life 

9 if they are afraid to go to school’’. 

10 (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention find that young people are both the victims 

12 and perpetrators of violence, with homicide being the 

13 second leading cause of death for young people be14 tween the ages of 10 and 24. 

15 (4) The U.S. Conference of Mayors states that 

16 youth violence is a public health crisis and have de17 clared that ‘‘[w]e can’t arrest our way out of this 

18 problem . . . prevention is the key to long-term suc19 cess’’. 

20 (5) In 2007, of a nationally representative sam21 ple of students in grades 9 through 12, 4.2 percent 

22 reported being in a physical fight one or more times 

23 in the previous 12 months that resulted in injuries 

24 that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse. 


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1 (6) In a 2007 nationally representative sample 

2 of youth in grades 9 through 12 regarding violence3 related behaviors, the CDC found— 

4 (A) 12.4 percent reported being in a phys5 ical fight on school property in the 12 months 

6 preceding the survey, with 16.3 percent of male 

7 students and 8.5 percent of female students re8 ported being in a physical fight on school prop9 erty in the 12 months preceding the survey; 

10 (B) 27.1 percent of students reported hav11 ing property stolen or deliberately damaged on 

12 school property and 5.5 percent did not go to 

13 school on one or more days in the 30 days pre14 ceding the survey because they felt unsafe at 

15 school or on their way to or from school; and 

16 (C) 5.9 percent reported carrying a weapon 

17 (gun, knife, or club) on school property on one 

18 or more days in the 30 days preceding the sur19 vey and 7.8 percent reported being threatened 

20 or injured with a weapon on school property 

21 one or more times. 

22 (7) In a 2007 nationally representative sample 

23 of youth in grades 9 through 12 regarding youth vi24 olence, the CDC found— 


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1 (A) 35.5 percent reported being in a phys2 ical fight in the 12 months preceding the sur3 vey; the prevalence was higher among males 

4 (44.4 percent) than females (26.5 percent); and 

5 (B) 18 percent reported carrying a weapon 

6 (gun, knife, or club) on one or more days in the 

7 30 days preceding the survey and 5.2 percent 

8 carried a gun on one or more days in the 30 

9 days preceding the survey. 

10 (8) An estimated 30 percent of 6th to 10th 

11 graders in the United States were either a bully, a 

12 target of bullying, or both. 

13 (9) From 1992 to 1999, perpetrators of school14 associated homicides were nine times as likely as vic15 tims to have exhibited some form of suicidal behav16 ior before the event, and were more than twice as 

17 likely as victims to have been bullied by their peers 

18 and more than half of the incidents over this period 

19 were preceded by some signal, such as threats, 

20 notes, or journal entries that indicated the potential 

21 for the coming event. 

22 (10) Most of the violent events involving stu23 dents occur during the transition times around the 

24 start of the school day, the lunch period, and at the 

25 end of the school day. 


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1 (11) While rates of school-associated student 

2 homicides decreased between 1992 and 2006, they 

3 remained relatively stable in recent years and were 

4 significantly higher for males, students in secondary 

5 schools, and students in central cities. 

6 (12) From 1999 to 2006, most school-associ7 ated homicides included gunshot wounds (65 per8 cent), stabbing or cutting (27 percent), and beating 

9 (12 percent). 

10 (13) The CDC estimates that women experience 

11 4,800,000 Intimate Partner Violence, or domestic12 related, physical assaults and rapes per year and 

13 men are the victims of about 2,900,000 IPV-related 

14 physical assaults annually. 

15 (14) Children who bear the burden of wit16 nessing violent acts, whether at home, in school, or 

17 in their communities must be taught coping mecha18 nisms before they are desensitized to violence and 

19 violent acts. 

20 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

21 assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention 

22 and reduction of conflict and violence in schools through23 out the country. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND MEDIATION PROGRAM 

2 AUTHORIZED. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education is au4 thorized to make grants to local educational agencies to 

5 provide assistance to schools served by the agency that are 

6 most directly affected by conflict and violence. 

7 (b) MODEL PROJECT.—The Secretary shall develop 

8 a written model for conflict resolution and mediation writ9 ten within 90 days and make such model available to any 

10 local educational agency that requests such information. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal 

13 year 2010 and such sums as may be necessary for each 

14 of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015 to carry out the 

15 projects under this Act. 

16 SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS. 

17 Grants made by the Secretary under this Act shall 

18 be used to develop programs for conflict resolution and 

19 mediation for students, teachers, and other personnel in 

20 regular contact with students at school. 

21 SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to be eligible to receive 

23 a grant under this Act for any fiscal year, a local edu24 cational agency shall submit an application to the Sec25 retary in such form and containing such information as 

26 the Secretary may reasonably require. 


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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Each application under sub2 section (a) shall include— 

3 (1) a request for funds for the purposes de4 scribed in section 2(b); 

5 (2) information about the schools and commu6 nities to be served by the grant, including the nature 

7 of the conflict and violence problems within and 

8 around the schools; 

9 (3) statistical information in such form and 

10 containing such information that the Secretary may 

11 require regarding conflict and violence within such 

12 schools and surrounding communities; and 

13 (4) assurances that Federal funds received 

14 under this Act shall be used to supplement, not sup15 plant, non-Federal funds that would otherwise be 

16 available for activities funded under this Act. 

17 (c) COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.—Each application shall 

18 include a comprehensive plan that shall contain— 

19 (1) a description of the conflict and violence 

20 problems within the schools served by the local edu21 cational agency and surrounding community tar22 geted for assistance; 

23 (2) a description of the resources available in 

24 the community to help implement the plan together 


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1 with a description of the areas in the plan that can2 not be filled with existing resources; and 

3 (3) a description of the system the applicant 

4 will establish to prevent and reduce ongoing conflict 

5 and violence problems. 

6 SEC. 6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS; LIMITATIONS ON GRANTS. 

7 (a) ADMINISTRATIVE COST LIMITATION.—The Sec8 retary shall use not more than 5 percent of the funds 

9 available under this Act for the purposes of administration 

10 and technical assistance. 

11 (b) RENEWAL OF GRANTS.—A grant under this Act 

12 may be renewed for not more than 2 additional years after 

13 the first fiscal year during which the recipient receives an 

14 initial grant under this Act, subject to the availability of 

15 funds, if— 

16 (1) the Secretary determines that the funds 

17 made available to the recipient during the previous 

18 year were used in a manner required under the ap19 proved application; and 

20 (2) the Secretary determines that an additional 

21 grant is necessary to implement the violence preven22 tion program described in the comprehensive plan as 

23 required by section 5(c). 


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1 SEC. 7. AWARD OF GRANTS. 

2 (a) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary 

3 shall consider the following factors in awarding grants to 

4 local educational agencies: 

5 (1) CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE PROBLEM.—The 

6 nature and scope of the violence problem in the tar7 geted schools. 

8 (2) NEED AND ABILITY.—Demonstrated need 

9 and evidence of the ability to provide the services de10 scribed in the plan required under section 5(c). 

11 (3) POPULATION.—The number of students to 

12 be served by the plan required under section 5(c). 

13 (b) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary 

14 shall attempt, to the extent practicable, to achieve an equi15 table geographic distribution of grant awards. 

16 SEC. 8. REPORTS. 

17 (a) REPORTS.—Local educational agencies that re18 ceive funds under this Act shall submit to the Secretary 

19 a detailed report not later than March 1 of each year that 

20 describes progress achieved in carrying out the plan re21 quired under section 5(c). 

22 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall 

23 submit to the Congress a report by October 1 of each year 

24 in which grants are made available under this Act which 

25 shall contain a detailed statement regarding grant awards, 

26 activities of grant recipients, a compilation of statistical 


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1 information submitted by applicants under section 

2 5(b)(3), and an evaluation of programs established under 

3 this Act. 

4 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

5 For the purpose of this Act: 

6 (1) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has 

7 the meaning given such term in section 9101 of the 

8 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

9 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

10 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

11 of Education. 

Æ 


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