I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2653 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to address 

and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 9, 2019 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ (for herself, Mr. KATKO, Mr. POCAN, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. PORTER, 

and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 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 2019’’. 

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 


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1 physical and psychological health of its victims and 

2 create conditions that negatively affect learning, 

3 thereby undermining the ability of students to 

4 achieve their full potential. 

5 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 

6 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 

7 underachievement. 

8 (3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 

9 behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 

10 to learn and participate in educational opportunities 

11 and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 

12 include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida13 tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send14 ing insulting or offensive messages through elec15 tronic communications, such as internet sites, e16 mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes17 saging, telephone, or any other means. 

18 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 

19 harassment policies have an increased level of re20 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul21 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 

22 frequency and number of such incidents. 

23 (5) Students have been particularly singled out 

24 for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac25 tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 


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1 disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 

2 or religion, among other categories. 

3 (6) Some young people experience a form of 

4 bullying called relational aggression or psychological 

5 bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 

6 threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 

7 their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac8 ceptance. 

9 (7) Interventions to address bullying and har10 assment conduct to create a positive and safe school 

11 climate, combined with evidence-based discipline 

12 policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 

13 Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative 

14 practices, can minimize suspensions, expulsions, and 

15 other exclusionary discipline policies to ensure that 

16 students are not ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the ju17 venile justice system. 

18 (8) According to one poll, 85 percent of Ameri19 cans strongly support or somewhat support a Fed20 eral law to require schools to enforce specific rules 

21 to prevent bullying. 

22 (9) Students, parents, educators, and policy23 makers have come together to call for leadership and 

24 action to address the national crisis of bullying and 

25 harassment. 


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1 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 

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

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

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

5 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 

6 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 

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

8 of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 

9 elementary schools and secondary schools. 

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

11 ‘‘(a) BULLYING.—In this part, the term ‘bullying’ in12 cludes cyber-bullying through electronic communications. 

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

14 this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 

15 State to carry out the following: 

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

17 conduct, including bullying and harassment, that is 

18 sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive— 

19 ‘‘(A) to limit a student’s ability to partici20 pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 

21 of a public school or local educational agency; 

22 or 

23 ‘‘(B) to create a hostile or abusive edu24 cational environment, adversely affecting a stu25 dent’s education, at a program or activity of a 

26 public school or local educational agency, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:43 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2653.IH H2653

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1 cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 

2 aggression or intimidation. 

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

4 shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 

5 conduct based on— 

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

7 color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual ori8 entation, gender identity, or religion; 

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

10 national origin, sex, disability, sexual orienta11 tion, gender identity, or religion of a person 

12 with whom a student associates or has associ13 ated; or 

14 ‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris15 tics that may be defined by the State or local 

16 educational agency, including being homeless or 

17 the child or ward of a member of the Armed 

18 Forces. 

19 ‘‘(3) Provide— 

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

21 and educational professionals describing the full 

22 range of prohibited conduct contained in such 

23 local educational agency’s discipline policies; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 

2 parents to register complaints regarding the 

3 prohibited conduct contained in such local edu4 cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 

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

6 agency officials who are designated as re7 sponsible for receiving such complaints; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu10 cational agency will establish in the resolu11 tion of such complaints. 

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

13 incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 

14 policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 

15 building level that are accurate and complete and 

16 publicly report such data at the school level and 

17 local educational agency level. The local educational 

18 agency shall ensure that victims or persons respon19 sible for such conduct are not identifiable. 

20 ‘‘(5) Encourage positive and preventative ap21 proaches to school discipline that minimize students’ 

22 removal from instruction and ensure that students, 

23 including students described in paragraph (2), are 

24 not subject to disproportionate punishment. 


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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 2021, 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 4304 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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