103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2455

AN ACT

To help local school systems achieve Goal Six of the

lence.ensuring that all schools are safe and free of viociplined environment conducive to learning, byfree of drugs and violence and will offer a disby the year 2000, every school in America will beNational Education Goals, which provides that
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2455

AN ACT

To help local school systems achieve Goal Six of the National

Education Goals, which provides that by the year 2000,

every school in America will be free of drugs and violence

and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to

learning, by ensuring that all schools are safe and free

of violence.

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 Act of

5 1994’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—With funds appropriated under

3 subsection (b)(1), the Secretary of Education shall make

4 competitive grants to eligible local educational agencies to

5 carry out projects designed to achieve Goal Six of the Na6 tional Education Goals, which provides that by the year

7 2000, every school in America will be free of drugs and

8 violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive

9 to learning, by helping to ensure that all schools are safe

10 and free of violence.

11 (b) MODEL PROJECT.—The Secretary of Education,

12 shall develop a written safe schools model so all schools

13 can develop models that enable all students to participate

14 regardless of any language barriers.

15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND RES16 ERVATION.—

17 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to

18 be appropriated to carry out this Act $50,000,000

19 for fiscal year 1994.

20 (2) RESERVATION.—From the sums appro21 priated to carry out this Act for any fiscal year, the

22 Secretary may reserve not more than 5 percent to

23 carry out national leadership activities under section

24 6.
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1 SEC. 3. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.

2 To be eligible to receive a grant under this Act, a

3 local educational agency shall demonstrate in its applica4 tion under section 4(a) that it—

5 (1) serves an area in which there is a high rate

6 of—

7 (A) homicides committed by persons be8 tween the ages 5 to 18, inclusive;

9 (B) referrals of youth to juvenile court;

10 (C) youth under the supervision of the

11 courts;

12 (D) expulsions and suspensions of students

13 from school;

14 (E) referrals of youth, for disciplinary rea15 sons, to alternative schools; or

16 (F) victimization of youth by violence,

17 crime, or other forms of abuse; and

18 (2) has serious school crime, violence, and dis19 cipline problems, as indicated by other appropriate

20 data.

21 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS AND PLANS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to receive a grant under

23 this Act, an eligible local educational agency shall submit

24 to the Secretary an application that includes—

25 (1) an assessment of the current violence and

26 crime problems in the schools to be served by the
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1 grant and in the community to be served by the ap2 plicant;

3 (2) an assurance that the applicant has written

4 policies regarding school safety, student discipline,

5 and the appropriate handling of violent or disruptive

6 acts;

7 (3) a description of the schools and commu8 nities to be served by the grant, the activities and

9 projects to be carried out with grant funds, and how

10 these activities and projects will help to reduce the

11 current violence and crime problems in the schools

12 and communities served;

13 (4) a description of educational materials to be

14 developed in the second most predominate language

15 of the schools and communities to be served by the

16 grant, if applicable;

17 (5) if the local educational agency receives Fed18 eral education funds, an explanation of how activi19 ties assisted under this Act will be coordinated with

20 and support any systemic education improvement

21 plan prepared with such funds;

22 (6) the applicant’s plan to establish school-level

23 advisory committees, which include faculty, parents,

24 staff, and students, for each school to be served by

25 the grant and a description of how each committee
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1 will assist in assessing that school’s violence and dis2 cipline problems as well as in designing appropriate

3 programs, policies, and practices to combat those

4 problems;

5 (7) the applicant’s plan for collecting baseline

6 and future data, by individual schools, to monitor vi7 olence and discipline problems and to measure its

8 progress in achieving the purpose of this Act;

9 (8) a description of how, in subsequent fiscal

10 years, the grantee will integrate the violence preven11 tion activities it carries out with funds under this

12 Act with activities carried out under its comprehen13 sive plan for drug and violence prevention adopted

14 under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Commu15 nities Act of 1986;

16 (9) a description of how the grantee will coordi17 nate its school crime and violence prevention efforts

18 with education, law enforcement, judicial, health, so19 cial service, programs supported under the Juvenile

20 Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974,

21 and other appropriate agencies and organizations

22 serving the community;

23 (10) a description of how the grantee will in24 form parents about the extent of crime and violence
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1 in their children’s schools and maximize the partici2 pation of parents in its violence prevention activities;

3 (11) an assurance that grant funds under this

4 Act will be used to supplement and not supplant

5 State and local funds that would, in the absence of

6 funds under this Act, be made available by the appli7 cant for the purposes of the grant;

8 (12) an assurance that the applicant will co9 operate with, and provide assistance to, the Sec10 retary in gathering statistics and other data the Sec11 retary determines are necessary to determine the ef12 fectiveness of projects and activities under this Act

13 or the extent of school violence and discipline prob14 lems throughout the Nation; and

15 (13) such other information as the Secretary

16 may require.

17 (b) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this Act,

18 the Secretary shall take into account the special needs of

19 local educational agencies located in both rural and urban

20 communities.

21 SEC. 5. GRANTS AND USE OF FUNDS.

22 (a) DURATION AND AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—Grants

23 under this Act may not exceed—

24 (1) 1 year in duration; and

25 (2) $3,000,000.
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1 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—

2 (1) ACTIVITIES.—A local educational agency

3 may use funds awarded under section 2(a) for 1 or

4 more of the following activities:

5 (A) Identifying and assessing school vio6 lence and discipline problems, including coordi7 nating needs assessment activities with edu8 cation, law-enforcement, judicial, health, social

9 service, juvenile justice programs, gang preven10 tion activities, and other appropriate agencies

11 and organizations.

12 (B) Conducting school safety reviews or vi13 olence prevention reviews of programs, policies,

14 practices, and facilities to determine what

15 changes are needed to reduce or prevent vio16 lence and promote safety and discipline.

17 (C) Planning for comprehensive, long-term

18 strategies for combating and preventing school

19 violence and discipline problems through the in20 volvement and coordination of school programs

21 with other education, law-enforcement, judicial,

22 health, social service, and other appropriate

23 agencies and organizations.
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1 (D) Activities which involve parents in ef2 forts to promote school safety and prevent

3 school violence;

4 (E) Community education programs involv5 ing parents, businesses, local government, the

6 medical, and other appropriate entities about

7 the local educational agency’s plan to promote

8 school safety and reduce and prevent school vio9 lence and discipline problems and the need for

10 community support.

11 (F) Coordination of school-based activities

12 designed to promote school safety and reduce or

13 prevent school violence and discipline problems

14 with related efforts of education, law-enforce15 ment, judicial, health, social service, juvenile

16 justice programs, and other appropriate agen17 cies and organizations.

18 (G) Developing and implementing violence

19 prevention activities and materials, including—

20 (i) conflict resolution and social skills

21 development for students, teachers, aides,

22 other school personnel, and parents;

23 (ii) disciplinary alternatives to expul24 sion and suspension of students who ex25 hibit violent or anti-social behavior;
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1 (iii) student-led activities such as peer

2 mediation, peer counseling, and student

3 courts; or

4 (iv) alternative after-school programs

5 that provide safe havens for students,

6 which may include cultural, recreational,

7 educational and instructional activities,

8 and mentoring and community service pro9 grams.

10 (H) Educating students and parents about

11 the dangers of guns and other weapons and the

12 consequences of their use.

13 (I) Developing and implementing innova14 tive curricula to prevent violence in schools and

15 training staff how to stop disruptive or violent

16 behavior if it occurs.

17 (J) Supporting ‘‘safe zones of passage’’ for

18 students between home and school through such

19 measures as Drug- and Weapon-Free School

20 Zones, enhanced law enforcement, and neigh21 borhood patrols.

22 (K) Counseling programs for victims and

23 witnesses of school violence and crime.

24 (L) Evaluating its project under this Act.
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1 (M) The cost of administering the project

2 of the local educational agency under this Act.

3 (N) Other activities that meet the purposes

4 of this Act.

5 (2) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—A local educational

6 agency may use not more than 5 percent of its grant

7 for activities described in paragraph (1)(M).

8 (3) CONSTRUCTION.—A local educational

9 agency may not use funds under this Act for

10 construction.

11 SEC. 6. NATIONAL LEADERSHIP.

12 To carry out the purpose of this Act, the Secretary

13 may use funds reserved under section 2(b)(2) to conduct

14 national leadership activities such as research, program

15 development and evaluation, data collection, public aware16 ness activities, training and technical assistance, to pro17 vide grants to noncommercial telecommunications entities

18 for the production and distribution of national video-based

19 projects that provide young people with models for conflict

20 resolution and responsible decisionmaking, and to conduct

21 peer review of applications under this Act. The Secretary

22 may carry out such activities directly, through interagency

23 agreements, or through grants, contracts, or cooperative

24 agreements.
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1 SEC. 7. REPORTS.

2 (a) REPORT TO SECRETARY.—Local educational

3 agencies that receive funds under this part shall submit

4 to the Secretary a report not later than March 1, 1995,

5 that describes progress achieved in carrying out the plan

6 required under section 4.

7 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

8 submit to the Committee on Education and Labor of the

9 House of Representatives a report not later than October

10 1, 1995, which contains a detailed statement regarding

11 grant awards, activities of grant recipients, a compilation

12 of statistical information submitted by applicants under

13 section 4, and an evaluation of programs established under

14 this part.

15 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

16 For purposes of this Act:

17 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

18 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given

19 such term in section 1471(12) of the Elementary

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

21 2891(12)).
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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Education.

Passed the House of Representatives February 22,

1994.

Attest:

Clerk.