I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5324 

To improve school safety and mental health services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2018 

Mr. FERGUSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To improve school safety and mental health services, 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 ‘‘Supporting Teachers 

5 and Safe Students Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH SUP7 PORT. 

8 (a) STATE USES OF FUNDS.—Section 2101(c)(4)(B) 

9 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

10 (20 U.S.C. 6611(c)(4)(B)) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating clause (xxi) as clause 

2 (xxiv); and 

3 (2) by inserting after clause (xx) the following: 

4 ‘‘(xxi) Supporting efforts to increase 

5 the professional development that is evi6 dence-based (to the extent the State, in 

7 consultation with local educational agencies 

8 in the State, determines that such evidence 

9 is reasonably available) for teachers, prin10 cipals, school leaders, and other school per11 sonnel in mental health awareness, violence 

12 prevention, crisis response, de-escalation 

13 and anger management techniques, posi14 tive behavioral interventions and supports, 

15 bullying and harassment prevention, and 

16 other similar programs designed to reduce 

17 and prevent school violence. 

18 ‘‘(xxii) Assisting local educational 

19 agencies in— 

20 ‘‘(I) developing and implementing 

21 professional development that is evi22 dence-based (to the extent the State, 

23 in consultation with local educational 

24 agencies in the State, determines that 

25 such evidence is reasonably available) 


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1 on violence prevention programs and 

2 emergency response and notification 

3 systems; and 

4 ‘‘(II) improving school climate. 

5 ‘‘(xxiii) Developing agreements be6 tween local educational agencies, law en7 forcement agencies, and health agencies, 

8 including nonprofit, public, and private 

9 mental health agencies and institutions, to 

10 improve coordination of services and to 

11 identify, respond to, and prevent threats to 

12 the safety of students and school per13 sonnel.’’. 

14 (b) LOCAL USES OF FUNDS.—Section 2103(b)(3) of 

15 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

16 U.S.C. 6613(b)(3)) is amended— 

17 (1) in subparagraph (I)— 

18 (A) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘, including 

19 mental health services,’’ after ‘‘services’’; and 

20 (B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and public 

21 or private mental health organizations’’ and in22 serting ‘‘, public or private mental health orga23 nizations, and local law enforcement agencies, 

24 to improve the coordination of services and to 


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1 identify, respond to, and prevent threats to the 

2 safety of students and school personnel’’; 

3 (2) in subparagraph (O), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

4 the end; 

5 (3) by redesignating subparagraph (P) as sub6 paragraph (R); and 

7 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (O) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(P) reducing the ratio of students to 

10 counselors to improve the ability of schools to 

11 address the needs of students through the re12 cruiting and hiring of school-based mental 

13 health services providers, as defined in section 

14 4102(6); 

15 ‘‘(Q) developing and implementing profes16 sional development that is evidence-based (to 

17 the extent the State, in consultation with local 

18 educational agencies in the State, determines 

19 that such evidence is reasonably available) for 

20 teachers, specialized instructional support per21 sonnel, principals, school leaders, and other 

22 school personnel in violence prevention, mental 

23 health awareness, threat de-escalation methods, 

24 and positive behavioral interventions and sup25 ports, and supporting bullying and harassment 


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1 prevention programs, and other similar pro2 grams designed to reduce and prevent school vi3 olence and improve the school climate for all 

4 students; and’’. 

Æ 


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