I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 977
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide increased
authority for school personnel to discipline children with disabilities who
engage in certain dangerous behavior.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 13, 2001
Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
to provide increased authority for school personnel to
discipline children with disabilities who engage in certain
dangerous behavior.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Classroom Safety Act
of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL-
ITIES EDUCATION ACT.
(a) PLACEMENT
IN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL
SETTING.—Section 615(k) of the Individuals with Disabil-
ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para-
graph (11); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (9) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(10) DISCIPLINE
WITH
REGARD
TO
WEAP-
ONS.—
‘‘(A) 
AUTHORITY
OF
SCHOOL
PER-
SONNEL.—Notwithstanding any other provision
of this Act, school personnel may discipline (in-
cluding expel or suspend) a child with a dis-
ability who—
‘‘(i) carries or possesses a weapon to
or at a school, on school premises, or to or
at a school function, under the jurisdiction
of a State or a local educational agency, or
‘‘(ii) possesses or uses illegal drugs, or
sells or solicits the sale of a controlled sub-
stance while at a school, on school prem-
ises, or to or at a school function, under
the jurisdiction of a State or a local edu-
cational agency,
in the same manner in which such personnel
may discipline a child without a disability. Such
personnel may modify the disciplinary action on
a case-by-case basis.
‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing
in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to pre-
vent a child with a disability who is disciplined
pursuant to the authority provided under sub-
paragraph (A) from asserting a defense that
the carrying or possession of the weapon, or the
possession of an illegal drug or sale or solicita-
tion of the sale of a controlled substance, was
unintentional or innocent.
‘‘(C) FREE
APPROPRIATE
PUBLIC
EDU-
CATION.—
‘‘(i) CEASING
TO
PROVIDE
EDU-
CATION.—Notwithstanding 
section
612(a)(1)(A), a child expelled or suspended
under subparagraph (A) shall not be enti-
tled to continue educational services, in-
cluding a free appropriate public edu-
cation, under this title, during the term of
such expulsion or suspension, if the State
in which the local educational agency re-
sponsible for providing educational services
to such child does not require a child with-
out a disability to receive educational serv-
ices after being expelled or suspended.
‘‘(ii) PROVIDING
EDUCATION.—Not-
withstanding clause (i), the local edu-
cational agency responsible for providing
educational services to a child with a dis-
ability who is expelled or suspended under
subparagraph (A) may choose to continue
to provide educational services to such
child. If the local educational agency so
chooses 
to 
continue 
to 
provide 
the
services—
‘‘(I) nothing in this title shall re-
quire the local educational agency to
provide such child with a free appro-
priate public education, or any par-
ticular level of service; and
‘‘(II) the location where the local
educational agency provides the serv-
ices shall be left to the discretion of
the local educational agency.
‘‘(D) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER REQUIRE-
MENTS.—
‘‘(i) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—No agen-
cy shall be considered to be in violation of
section 612 or 613 because the agency has
provided discipline, services, or assistance
in accordance with this paragraph.
‘‘(ii) 
PROCEDURE.—Actions 
taken
pursuant to this paragraph shall not be
subject to the provisions of this section,
other than this paragraph.’’.
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENTS.—(1) 
Section
615(f)(1) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(f)(1)) is amended by striking
‘‘Whenever’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘Except as pro-
vided in section 615(k)(10), whenever’’.
(2) Section 615(k)(1)(A)(ii) of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1415(k)(1)(A)(ii))
is amended in the matter preceding subclause (I) by in-
serting before ‘‘to an appropriate interim educational set-
ting’’ the following: ‘‘except as provided in paragraph
(10),’’.
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