I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6031 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 24, 2023 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ (for herself, Mr. POCAN, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. 

WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TAKANO, 

Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. COSTA, Ms. WILD, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. 

JAYAPAL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mrs. 

RAMIREZ, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. PETERS, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. TRONE, Ms. 

ESCOBAR, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. THANEDAR, 

Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. CASTEN, Mrs. CHERFILUSMCCORMICK, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Ms. BUSH, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. 

SWALWELL, Ms. KAPTUR, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, 

Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. 

BEATTY, Ms. PETTERSEN, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. SOTO, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. 

CARAVEO, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. CHU, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. SCHRIER, 

Mr. NADLER, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. 

SCANLON, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. 

LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

BARRAGA ́N, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, and Mr. CA ́RDENAS) introduced the 

following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To address and take action to prevent bullying and 

harassment of students. 


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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 

9 fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 

10 physical and psychological health of its victims and 

11 create conditions that negatively affect learning, 

12 thereby undermining the ability of students to 

13 achieve their full potential. 

14 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 

15 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 

16 underachievement. 

17 (3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 

18 behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 

19 to learn and participate in educational opportunities 

20 and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 

21 include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida22 tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send23 ing insulting or offensive messages through elec24 tronic communications, such as internet sites, eVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6031.IH H6031

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1 mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes2 saging, telephone, or any other means. 

3 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 

4 harassment policies have an increased level of re5 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul6 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 

7 frequency and number of such incidents. 

8 (5) Students have been particularly singled out 

9 for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac10 tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 

11 disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 

12 sex characteristics (including intersex traits), or reli13 gion, among other categories. 

14 (6) Some young people experience a form of 

15 bullying called relational aggression or psychological 

16 bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 

17 threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 

18 their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac19 ceptance. 

20 (7) Interventions to address bullying and har21 assment should incorporate evidence-based discipline 

22 policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 

23 Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and other re24 storative practices that can minimize suspensions, 

25 expulsions, and other exclusionary and harmful disVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6031.IH H6031

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1 cipline policies to ensure that students are not 

2 ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the juvenile justice sys3 tem. 

4 (8) Perpetrators of bullying and harassment 

5 often have a history of trauma or psychological dis6 tress, or have been bullied themselves. These stu7 dents, often discussed as ‘‘bully-victims’’, require ad8 ditional trauma-informed interventions and consider9 ation. 

10 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

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

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

14 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 

15 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 

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

17 of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 

18 elementary schools and secondary schools. 

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

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

21 means conduct that adversely affects the ability of one or 

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

23 educational programs or activities by placing a student in 

24 fear of harm. 


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

2 this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 

3 State to carry out the following: 

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

5 conduct, including bullying and harassment, that— 

6 ‘‘(A) limits a student’s ability to partici7 pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 

8 of a public school or local educational agency; 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(B) creates a hostile or abusive edu11 cational environment, adversely affecting a stu12 dent’s education, at a program or activity of a 

13 public school or local educational agency, in14 cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 

15 aggression or intimidation. 

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

17 shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 

18 conduct based on— 

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

20 color, national origin, sex (including sexual ori21 entation and gender identity), sex characteris22 tics (including intersex traits), disability, or re23 ligion; 

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

25 national origin, sex (including sexual orientaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6031.IH H6031

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1 tion and gender identity), sex characteristics 

2 (including intersex traits), disability, or religion 

3 of a person with whom a student associates or 

4 has associated; or 

5 ‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris6 tics that may be defined by the State or local 

7 educational agency. 

8 ‘‘(3) Provide— 

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

10 and educational professionals describing the full 

11 range of prohibited conduct contained in such 

12 local educational agency’s discipline policies; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 

15 parents to register complaints regarding the 

16 prohibited conduct contained in such local edu17 cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 

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

19 agency officials who are designated as re20 sponsible for receiving such complaints; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu23 cational agency will establish in the resolu24 tion of such complaints. 


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

2 incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 

3 policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 

4 level that are accurate and complete and publicly re5 port such data at the school level and local edu6 cational agency level. The local educational agency 

7 shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 

8 such conduct are not identifiable. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 

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

11 a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu12 cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec13 retary— 

14 ‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu15 cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 

16 4702(b)(4); and 

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

18 local educational agency efforts to address the con19 duct prohibited by the policies described in section 

20 4702(b)(1). 

21 ‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 

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

23 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 

24 and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen25 tary schools and secondary schools, including implementaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:28 Nov 04, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6031.IH H6031

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1 tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ2 ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 

3 the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef4 fective parent involvement and training programs. 

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

6 Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 

7 are subject to independent review, to determine the inci8 dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 

9 described in section 4702. 

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

11 2024, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 

12 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find13 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to14 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 

15 data submitted by the States under section 4703. 

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

17 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION

18 LAWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali19 date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand20 ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 

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

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

23 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 

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

25 504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 


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1 794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

2 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 

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

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

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

6 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

7 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil8 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

9 ‘‘(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.—Noth10 ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 

11 regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 

12 procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 

13 laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 

14 expression. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 4706. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

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

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

18 to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 

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

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

21 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

22 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

23 to section 4644 the following: 

‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT

‘‘Sec. 4701. Purpose. 

‘‘Sec. 4702. Anti-bullying policies. 

‘‘Sec. 4703. State reports. 


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‘‘Sec. 4704. Evaluation. 

‘‘Sec. 4705. Effect on other laws. 

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

Æ 


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