IIB 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5295 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2006 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To protect students and teachers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student and Teacher 

3 Safety Act of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The United States Department of Edu7 cation’s National Center for Education Statistics re8 ported in the 2005 Indicators of School Crime and 

9 Safety that in 2003 seventeen percent of students in 

10 grades 9-12 reported they carried a weapon. Six per11 cent reported having carried a weapon on school 

12 grounds. 

13 (2) The same survey reported that 29 percent 

14 of all students in grades 9-12 reported that someone 

15 offered, sold, or gave them an illegal drug on school 

16 property within the last 12 months. 

17 (3) The United States Constitution’s Fourth 

18 Amendment guarantees ‘‘the right of the people to 

19 be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and ef20 fects, against unreasonable searches and seizures’’. 

21 (4) That while the Supreme Court affirmed the 

22 Fourth Amendment’s application to students in pub23 lic schools in New Jersey vs. TLO (1985), the Court 

24 held that searches of students by school officials do 

25 not require warrants issued by judges showing probVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:28 Sep 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5295.RFS H5295

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1 able cause. The Court will ordinarily hold that such 

2 a search is permissible if— 

3 (A) there are reasonable grounds for sus4 pecting the search will reveal evidence that the 

5 student violated the law or school rules; and 

6 (B) the measures used to conduct the 

7 search are reasonably related to the search’s ob8 jectives, without being excessively intrusive in 

9 light of the student’s age, sex, and nature of 

10 the offense. 

11 (5) The Supreme Court held in Board of Edu12 cation of Independent Sch. Dist. 92 of Pottawatomie 

13 County vs. Earls (2002) that random drug testing 

14 of students who were participating in extracurricular 

15 activities was reasonable and did not violate the 

16 Fourth Amendment. The Court stated that such 

17 search policies effectively serve the School Districts 

18 interest in protecting its students’ health and safety. 

19 SEC. 3. SEARCHES BASED ON REASONABLE SUSPICION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational agency 

21 shall have in effect throughout the jurisdiction of the 

22 agency policies that ensure that a search described in sub23 section (b) is deemed reasonable and permissible. 

24 (b) SEARCHES COVERED.—A search referred to in 

25 subsection (a) is a search by a full-time teacher or school 


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1 official, acting on any reasonable suspicion based on pro2 fessional experience and judgment, of any minor student 

3 on the grounds of any public school, if the search is con4 ducted to ensure that classrooms, school buildings, school 

5 property and students remain free from the threat of all 

6 weapons, dangerous materials, or illegal narcotics. The 

7 measures used to conduct any search must be reasonably 

8 related to the search’s objectives, without being excessively 

9 intrusive in light of the student’s age, sex, and the nature 

10 of the offense. 

11 SEC. 4. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROTECT STUDENTS AND 

12 TEACHERS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency that 

14 fails to comply with section 3 shall not, during the period 

15 of noncompliance, receive any Safe and Drug Free School 

16 funds after fiscal year 2008. 

17 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Safe and 

18 Drug Free School funds’’ includes any funds under Part 

19 A of Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

20 Act of 1965. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 

2006. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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