tled ‘‘Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2006’’ 
(the ‘‘Indicators’’ report). 
(3) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report is based on sur-
veys, research, and self-reported data; further it is 
not the most current data available on K–12 school 
related crime. 
(4) The National Incident-Based Reporting 
System (NIBRS) was developed by the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation as part of the Uniform Crime 
Reporting (UCR) Program. NIBRS presents com-
prehensive, detailed information about crime inci-
dents to law enforcement, researchers, governmental 
planners, students of criminology, and the general 
public. NIBRS currently collects data on all reported 
incidents of crime. This data is included in an an-
nual UCR report. Because NIBRS collects the de-
tails of crime incidents, it provides great specificity 
in reporting. 
(5) According to the ‘‘Indicators’’ report, in the 
2004–2005 school year, there were an estimated 
54,900,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 
grade 12. Preliminary data on fatal victimization 
show youth ages 5 to 18 were victims of 28 school- 
associated violent deaths from July 1, 2004, through 
June 30, 2005. In 2004, students ages 12 to 18 
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were victims of about 1,400,000 nonfatal crimes at 
schools, including about 863,000 thefts and 583,000 
violent crimes (simple assault and serious violent 
crime), of which 107,000 were serious violent crimes 
(rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated as-
sault). 
(6) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report states that in 
2005, 6 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported 
they had carried a weapon on school property, and 
10 percent of male students carried a weapon on 
school property. Further, a February 2006 Depart-
ment of Education report titled ‘‘Report on the Im-
plementation of the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994 
in the States and Outlying Areas’’ states that 2,143 
students were expelled for bringing or possessing a 
firearm. Of those, 58 percent were seniors, 31 per-
cent were junior high, and 11 percent were elemen-
tary school. 
(7) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report states that in 
2005, 6 percent of students ages 12–18 reported 
that they had been afraid of attack at school or on 
the way to and from school. 
(8) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report states that in 
2005, 6 percent of students ages 12–18 reported 
that they either skipped school activities or avoided 
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specific places in school because they were fearful. 
Six percent of urban students, 4 percent of subur-
ban students, and 3 percent of rural students re-
ported avoiding activities or places. 
(9) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report states in 2005, 24 
percent of students ages 12–18 reported that street 
gangs were present at their school during the pre-
vious six months. 
(10) The ‘‘Indicators’’ report states in 2005, 28 
percent of students ages 12 to 18 reported having 
been bullied in schools in the last 6 months. 
(11) The Office of the New York State Comp-
troller’s May 2006 report found that at schools they 
sampled more than 80 percent of the documented in-
cidents were not reported to the State, and in a 
number of instances the most serious types of inci-
dents were unreported such as sexual offenses and 
incidents involving the use of a weapon. 
(12) Accurate data is important to meet the 
educational goal of safe climate for academic 
achievement. Accurate data enables administrators 
to assess the impact of programs that have been im-
plemented to promote school safety and to assess 
whether additional efforts are needed. Accurate data 
provides the basis for grant applications and other 
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funding. Accurate data is useful in assessing the 
costs associated with discipline problems and allo-
cating resources appropriately. Accurate data is use-
ful in determining whether goals are being accom-
plished and can assist in developing solutions for 
prevention and intervention. 
(13) In its October 23, 2006, appearance before 
the Secretary’s advisory committee meeting on the 
unsafe school choice option (USCO)and the identi-
fication of persistently dangerous schools, the Office 
of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department 
of Education reported that it had audited five States 
on the USCO: California, Georgia, Iowa, New Jer-
sey, and Texas. The OIG identified common trends 
in States’ USCO policies that are not consistent 
with the non-regulatory guidance, including: common 
violent offenses being excluded from the ‘‘persist-
ently dangerous’’ determination; measuring discipli-
nary outcomes rather than the occurrence of violent 
incidents; and requiring thresholds to be met for two 
to three consecutive years before identifying a 
schools as persistently dangerous. Based on issues 
identified through the audits, the OIG encouraged 
the Department and the Congress to consider 
amending the USCO provision to require States to 
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ensure that their USCO policies meet three basic re-
quirements: that all violent incidents, according to 
State code, are factored into the persistently dan-
gerous school determination, without the use of dis-
ciplinary action qualifiers; that benchmarks for de-
terminations of persistently dangerous schools are 
set at reasonable levels that are supported by objec-
tive and reliable data; and that determinations are 
identified based upon the most current year of data. 
(14) On October 24, 2006, Secretary Spellings 
stated before the advisory committee meeting on the 
unsafe school choice option and the identification of 
persistently dangerous schools, that ‘‘better coordi-
nation and connection could be made with that com-
munity both from the law enforcement side and from 
the school side,’’ and discussed the issue of data 
sharing and information between law enforcement 
and educators. 
(15) The Center for Social and Emotional Edu-
cation recently commissioned a national survey of 40 
school leaders (principals, superintendents, State 
Department of Education and national level leaders) 
from across America (MMS Education, 2006). Over 
90 percent of the school leaders interviewed indi-
cated that school climate was an area of interest and 
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focus. In fact, 82 percent stated that school climate 
was an ‘‘extremely important’’ or ‘‘very important’’ 
topic. Importantly, 79 percent of the school leaders 
who used school climate evaluations discovered that 
they generated positive school improvement change. 
(16) There is a growing body of research that 
powerfully supports the idea that how we feel about 
school—or school climate—affects student learning 
and development. 
SEC. 3. SCHOOL SAFETY CHOICE OPTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9532 of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7912) 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 9532. SCHOOL SAFETY CHOICE OPTION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State receiving funds 
under this Act shall establish and implement a statewide 
policy requiring that a student who is attending a public 
elementary or secondary school that does not have a safe 
climate for academic achievement, as determined by the 
State in consultation with a representative sample of local 
educational agencies, parent groups, and local law enforce-
ment agencies or other experts in the area of school safety, 
or who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense, as 
determined by State law, while in or on the grounds of 
or on a school bus of, or on a school function of, a public 
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elementary school or secondary school that the student at-
tends, be allowed to attend a safe public elementary school 
or secondary school within the local educational agency, 
including a public charter school. The policy shall further 
provide for the option of counseling or removal of the of-
fender where appropriate. 
‘‘(b) DETERMINATIONS OF ‘SAFE CLIMATE’.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A determination whether a 
school has a safe climate for academic achievement 
for purposes of subsection (a) must be based on 
verifiable data that is reported in a consistent and 
uniform manner as prescribed by the State edu-
cation agency. The Secretary shall provide guidance 
on what the best practices are for implementation 
and monitoring of the policies required by this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(2) SCHOOL
MUST
DEVELOP
PLAN.—If a 
school is determined not to have a safe climate for 
academic achievement, it shall develop and imple-
ment strategic and tactical interventions, based on 
analysis of the data and issues of local concern, to 
create a safer school environment. 
‘‘(3) REPORTING BY STATES.—Each State shall 
submit to the Secretary for review its policies on 
how it determines whether a school has a safe cli-
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mate for academic achievement. If, after review of 
the State’s policies, the Secretary determines that 
the policies would be ineffective in determining 
whether a school has a safe climate for academic 
achievement, the Secretary may require the State to 
redevelop those policies. Each State shall report to 
the Secretary, on an annual basis, the number of 
schools determined not to have a safe climate for 
academic achievement, the number of students who 
have transferred, and the number of offenders who 
have been removed pursuant to this section. 
‘‘(4) REQUEST THAT FBI PROVIDE INFORMA-
TION.—The Secretary shall request the Director of 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to make avail-
able for inclusion in the report on Indicators of 
School Crime and Safety any data or other informa-
tion the Bureau has available, through the Uniform 
Crime Reporting System or the National Incidents- 
Based Reporting System, on the occurrence and in-
cidence of school-related crime in elementary and 
secondary schools. The Secretary shall make avail-
able any data or other information it receives from 
the Bureau to the States. 
‘‘(5) INCLUSION
IN
POLICIES.—Each State 
shall, in developing its policies on how it determines 
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whether a school has a safe climate for academic 
achievement, include information on school related 
crime data, without the use of disciplinary action 
qualifiers, reported pursuant to title IV (including 
section 4141) and collected by the National Inci-
dents Based Reporting System, or information con-
sistent with that which is reported in the National 
Incident Based Reporting System, if the State is not 
certified under that system. The policies shall pro-
vide for the comparison and evaluation for consist-
ency of the information collected under this section. 
‘‘(c) PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall complete 
its determinations under subsection (a) as to which 
schools do not have a safe climate for academic 
achievement in time to permit the local educational 
agencies to allow, at least 45 days before the start 
of the school year, a student who would attend such 
a school to instead attend a safe school, as provided 
in subsection (a). 
‘‘(2) NOTICE.—After making such a determina-
tion, the State shall notify the local educational 
agency of the determination. Within a reasonable 
time after being so notified, the local educational 
agency shall provide, to the custodial parent or 
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guardian of each student in the school, a notice of 
the determination. The notice shall describe the de-
termination and explain that, by reason of the deter-
mination, the student is allowed by subsection (a) to 
attend another school. 
‘‘(3) FORM OF NOTICE.—A notice to a parent 
under paragraph (2) shall be in an understandable 
and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, 
in a language that the parent can understand. 
‘‘(d) EVALUATIONS BY STATES.—Each State shall, 
on an ongoing basis, using verifiable documentation, 
evaluate the extent to which local educational agencies are 
in compliance with this section. 
‘‘(e) CERTIFICATION.—As a condition of receiving 
funds under this Act, a State shall certify in writing to 
the Secretary that the State is in compliance with this sec-
tion. The certification must be based on verifiable data 
that is reported in a consistent and uniform manner as 
prescribed by the State education agency. 
‘‘(f) PERIODIC EVALUATION.—The Inspector General 
of the Department of Education shall conduct an inde-
pendent annual evaluation of the extent to which States 
are in compliance with this section. Each annual evalua-
tion shall cover a sample of States, selected on a rotating 
basis.’’. 
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