I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8290 

To implement title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 with respect 

to elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 

Mr. CASTEN of Illinois (for himself, Ms. FRANKEL, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Ms. 

MENG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To implement title IX of the Education Amendments of 

1972 with respect to elementary and secondary schools, 

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 ‘‘Stop Sexual Harass5 ment in K–12 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TITLE IX COORDINATOR. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—For each local educational agency 

8 (as defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec9 ondary Education Act of 1965 (8 U.S.C. 7801)) that reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8290.IH H8290

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1 ceives Federal financial assistance (as such term is defined 

2 in section 7501(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code), the 

3 following requirements shall apply as a condition on con4 tinued receipt of such assistance: 

5 (1) The recipient shall designate at least one 

6 full-time equivalent employee to serve as a Title IX 

7 Coordinator per 75,000 students in 7th grade or 

8 above served by the recipient and one per 150,000 

9 students in 6th grade or below. 

10 (2) The recipient shall ensure students and 

11 staff are made aware of these employees, their role, 

12 and the times at which they are available to meet. 

13 (3) A Title IX Coordinator should not have any 

14 other school-related responsibility that may create a 

15 conflict of interest, including serving in the school 

16 administrative leadership or local educational agency 

17 administrative leadership (such as serving as a prin18 cipal, vice principal, headmaster, superintendent, 

19 board member, general counsel, athletics director, 

20 etc.). 

21 (4) A Title IX Coordinator, along with a prin22 cipal, campus security, bus driver, teacher, counselor 

23 or social worker, affirmative action officer, or any 

24 other staff member, shall be considered an ‘‘appro25 priate person’’ to whom to disclose sexual assaults 


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1 for purposes of the legal standards that enable pri2 vate rights of action. 

3 (b) DUTIES.—Each Title IX Coordinator for a local 

4 educational agency shall ensure the local educational agen5 cy’s compliance under Federal, State, and local laws and 

6 policies against sex discrimination, including title IX of 

7 the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 

8 seq.), by doing the following: 

9 (1) Ensuring that every individual affected by 

10 the operations of the local educational agency, in11 cluding students, parents, guardians, employees, and 

12 applicants for admission or employment, is aware of 

13 their rights under Federal, State, and local laws and 

14 polices against sex discrimination, including title IX, 

15 and that the local educational agency and its em16 ployees comply with those laws and policies, includ17 ing receiving training on the laws and policies. 

18 (2) Ensuring that notices of nondiscrimination, 

19 relevant policies and grievance procedures, and cur20 rent contact information of all Title IX Coordinators 

21 are disseminated broadly and in an age-appropriate 

22 manner accessible to all students, parents, guard23 ians, and employees and applicants for admission or 

24 employment, including on school websites and in 

25 school handbooks. 


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1 (3) Monitoring complaints alleging discrimina2 tion based on sex (including sexual orientation, gen3 der identity, pregnancy, childbirth, a medical condi4 tion related to pregnancy or childbirth, and a sex 

5 stereotype) and sexual harassment, including sup6 portive measures offered to complainants and the 

7 outcomes of complaints. 

8 (4) Identifying patterns of sex discrimination 

9 from complaints and addressing its impact on the 

10 school community. 

11 (5) Coordinating dissemination, collection, and 

12 analysis of climate surveys, including the survey de13 scribed in section 4, and identifying and proactively 

14 addressing sex discrimination in the local edu15 cational agency based on the results of climate sur16 veys. 

17 (6) Overseeing age-appropriate sexual harass18 ment prevention education and trainings to school 

19 employees and students and ensuring that preven20 tion education and training is inclusive of diverse 

21 communities and identities, informed by research, 

22 and conducted in partnership with local rape crisis 

23 centers, State sexual assault coalitions, or commu24 nity organizations that work on addressing sex dis25 crimination, including sexual harassment in schools. 


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1 (c) WAIVER AUTHORIZED.—A recipient described in 

2 subsection (a) may request a waiver from the Secretary 

3 of Education of one or more of the requirements under 

4 such subsection on the basis that the requirement poses 

5 an insurmountable financial burden to the recipient and 

6 the recipient has been unable to secure sufficient grants 

7 under subsection (d). The waiver process shall include re8 quiring the recipient to submit an alternative plan for en9 suring students are aware of their rights under title IX 

10 of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 

11 et seq.) and have access to a Title IX Coordinator. If a 

12 recipient has such a waiver approved but does not follow 

13 their alternative plan, or the Secretary deems their plan 

14 was insufficient to prevent and respond to sexual harass15 ment and assault, the Secretary of Education shall take 

16 such action as may be appropriate to withhold Federal fi17 nancial assistance. A waiver granted under this subsection 

18 shall be valid for 2 years. 

19 (d) GRANTS.—To carry out this section, there are au20 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Education 

21 $100,000,000 for grants to recipients described in sub22 section (a) to offset the financial burden of satisfying the 

23 requirements of this section. In making grants under this 

24 subsection, priority shall be given to local educational 


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1 agencies that otherwise would face a high financial burden 

2 in fulfilling such requirements. 

3 (e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Title IX 

4 Coordinator’’ means the employee of a recipient of Federal 

5 financial assistance (as such term is defined in section 

6 7501(a)(5) of title 31, United States Code) with major 

7 responsibility for coordinating the recipient’s efforts to 

8 comply with its obligations under title IX of the Education 

9 Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.). 

10 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR TRAINING ON HOW TO RESPOND TO 

11 SIGNS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND AS12 SAULT OF STUDENTS. 

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec14 retary of Education $50,000,000 for grants to local edu15 cational agencies (as defined in section 8101 of the Ele16 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (8 U.S.C. 

17 7801)) to train elementary and secondary school teachers 

18 and other school staff on how to prevent, recognize, and 

19 respond to signs of sexual harassment and assault among 

20 students or between students and adults, as well as groom21 ing of students by adults at school. 

22 SEC. 4. CLIMATE SURVEYS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education, in 

24 consultation with the Attorney General and the Director 

25 of the Centers for Disease Control of the Department of 


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1 Health and Human Services, shall develop an empirically 

2 validated sexual violence climate survey to be conducted 

3 on an anonymous basis of elementary and secondary 

4 school students and staff not later than one year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act. The survey shall assess 

6 the occurrence on school property during the preceding 

7 calendar year for which data is available of instances of 

8 domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sexual 

9 violence, sexual harassment, and stalking. 

10 (b) STATISTICS.—Beginning 18 months after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, such officials shall com12 pile statistics based upon their analysis of the results of 

13 the survey. Such officials shall update, conduct, and com14 pile the results of, the survey every 2 years thereafter. The 

15 compiled statistics should be disaggregated by local edu16 cational agency, except that such disaggregation shall not 

17 be required in the case of a local educational agency of 

18 a size such that the results would reveal personally identi19 fiable information about an individual student, in which 

20 case, an alternate basis for disaggregation shall be se21 lected. 

22 (c) DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE CONTENT.— 

23 The Secretary shall ensure that the survey questions vary 

24 between staff and students and for different age groups 


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1 in order to ensure that the questions are developmentally 

2 appropriate. 

3 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The statistics compiled 

4 under subsection (b) shall be made publicly available on 

5 the website of the Department of Education and readily 

6 accessible to and usable by individuals, including individ7 uals with disabilities. 

8 (e) TOPICS.—Subject to subsection (c), the survey 

9 shall address— 

10 (1) whether the instances domestic violence, 

11 dating violence, sexual assault, sexual violence, sex12 ual harassment, and stalking described were experi13 enced in-person or through electronic means; 

14 (2) the effectiveness of school sexual violence 

15 awareness and prevention programs and policies for 

16 the overall student body and different student popu17 lations, such as students of color, students in the 

18 LGBTQ communities, immigrant students, pregnant 

19 and parenting students, and students with disabil20 ities; 

21 (3) the effectiveness of current processes for 

22 complaints on and investigations into sex-based, 

23 race-based, national origin-based, sexual orientation24 based, gender identity-based, and disability-based 


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1 harassment, assault, discrimination, domestic vio2 lence, dating violence, and stalking; 

3 (4) students’ awareness of school policies and 

4 procedures, including the location and process for 

5 accessing school resources such as the title IX coor6 dinator designated by the school pursuant to title IX 

7 of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 

8 1681 et seq.); 

9 (5) whether individuals impacted by sexual har10 assment, sexual violence, discrimination, domestic vi11 olence, dating violence, and stalking have experi12 enced negative effects on their education, including 

13 diminished grades, dropped classes, or leaves of ab14 sence; 

15 (6) what training is being provided to teachers 

16 and staff on policies and procedures pertaining to 

17 sexual harassment, sexual violence, discrimination, 

18 domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, in19 cluding best practices in prevention; 

20 (7) whether the perpetrator of sexual harass21 ment, sexual violence, discrimination, domestic vio22 lence, dating violence, and stalking was a student 

23 and other contextual factors; 

24 (8) whether individuals impacted by sexual har25 assment, sexual violence, discrimination, domestic viVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8290.IH H8290

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1 olence, dating violence, and stalking reported such 

2 sexual harassment, sexual violence, discrimination, 

3 domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking; 

4 (9) if such an individual did so report, to whom 

5 they reported, and what response the survivor re6 ceived; 

7 (10) if such an individual reported to the 

8 school, did the school conduct an investigation and 

9 how long did the investigation take; 

10 (11) school community members’, such as stu11 dents, full-time and part-time staff and faculty, and 

12 administration officials, attitudes toward sexual vio13 lence and harassment, including individuals’ willing14 ness to intervene as a bystander of sex-based, race15 based, national origin-based, sexual orientation16 based, gender identity-based, and disability-based 

17 discrimination, harassment, assault, domestic vio18 lence, dating violence, and stalking; 

19 (12) school community members’, such as stu20 dents, full-time and part-time staff and faculty, and 

21 administration officials, perception of school safety 

22 and confidence in the school’s ability to appro23 priately address sex-based, race-based, national ori24 gin-based, sexual orientation-based, gender identity25 based, and disability-based discrimination, harassVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Oct 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8290.IH H8290

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1 ment, assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and 

2 stalking; 

3 (13) any other issues relating to sex-based, 

4 race-based, national origin-based, sexual orientation5 based, gender identity-based, and disability-based 

6 discrimination, harassment, assault, domestic vio7 lence, dating violence, and stalking, as appropriate; 

8 and 

9 (f) ADDITIONAL TOPICS.—States and local edu10 cational agencies may add additional questions to the sur11 vey as they determine appropriate. 

12 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to carry 

14 out this section. 

15 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

16 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt, 

17 invalidate, or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal 

18 standards available to victims of discrimination or retalia19 tion under any other Federal law or law of a State or polit20 ical subdivision of a State, including title VI of the Civil 

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

22 of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 

23 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

24 U.S.C. 794), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

25 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), or section 1979 of the Revised 


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1 Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1983). The obligations imposed by 

2 this Act are in addition to those imposed by title IX of 

3 the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 

4 seq.), title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

5 2000d et seq.), and the Americans with Disabilities Act 

6 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

7 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of the Congress that it is valuable for 

9 students to have access to confidential reporting of sexual 

10 harassment and abuse, and schools should attempt to pro11 vide that to the extent possible in accordance with State 

12 and local laws. 

13 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 Unless otherwise provided in this Act, this Act shall 

15 take effect 120 days after the date of the enactment of 

16 this Act. 

Æ 


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