I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1648 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to address 
and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2011 
Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California (for herself, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BACA, 
Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 
BORDALLO, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. 
CICILLINE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. 
COSTELLO, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, 
Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FILNER, Mr. AL GREEN of 
Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HANABUSA, Mr. HANNA, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Florida, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HONDA, Mr. ISRAEL, 
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 
KUCINICH, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. 
MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, 
Ms. MOORE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. NEAL, 
Mr. OLVER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. 
PLATTS, Mr. POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mr. 
ROTHMAN of New Jersey, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. LO-
RETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 
STARK, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. YARMUTH, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to address and take action to prevent bullying 
and harassment of students. 
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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 ‘‘Safe Schools Improve-
ment Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Bullying fosters a climate of fear and dis-
respect that can seriously impair the physical and 
psychological health of its victims and create condi-
tions that negatively affect learning, thereby under-
mining the ability of students to achieve their full 
potential. 
(2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 
dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 
underachievement. 
(3) Bullying and harassment includes a range 
of behaviors that negatively impact a student’s abil-
ity to learn and participate in educational opportuni-
ties and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors 
can include hitting or punching, teasing or name- 
calling, intimidation through gestures or social ex-
clusion, and sending insulting or offensive messages 
through electronic communications such as Internet 
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sites, e-mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and 
messaging, telephone, or any other means. 
(4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 
harassment policies have an increased level of re-
porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul-
lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 
frequency and number of such incidents. 
(5) Students have been particularly singled out 
for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac-
tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 
disability status, sexual orientation or gender iden-
tity, among other categories. 
(6) Some young people experience a form of 
bullying called relational aggression or psychological 
bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 
threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 
their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac-
ceptance. 
(7) Interventions to address bullying and har-
assment and create a positive and safe school cli-
mate, combined with evidence-based discipline poli-
cies and practices, such as Positive Behavior Inter-
ventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative prac-
tices, can minimize suspensions, expulsions, and 
other exclusionary discipline policies to ensure that 
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students are not ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the ju-
venile justice system. 
(8) According to a recent poll, 85 percent of 
Americans strongly support or somewhat support a 
Federal law to require schools to enforce specific 
rules to prevent bullying. 
(9) Students, parents, educators, and policy-
makers have come together to call for leadership and 
action to address the national crisis of bullying and 
harassment. 
SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART D—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 
‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSE. 
‘‘The purpose of this part is to address the problem 
of bullying and harassment of students in public elemen-
tary schools and secondary schools. 
‘‘SEC. 4402. STATE REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) STATE REPORTING, NEEDS ASSESSMENT, AND 
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Each State that receives funds 
under this Act shall carry out the following: 
‘‘(1) COLLECTION AND REPORT OF INFORMA-
TION.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The State shall collect 
and report information on the incidence, preva-
lence, age of onset, perception of health risk, 
and perception of social disapproval of bullying 
and harassment by youth in elementary schools 
and secondary schools and communities in the 
State. 
‘‘(B) SOURCE OF INFORMATION.—In col-
lecting information described in subparagraph 
(A), the State shall include information col-
lected from incident reports by school officials, 
anonymous student surveys, and anonymous 
teacher, administrator, specialized instructional 
support personnel, and other school personnel 
surveys reported to the State on a school-by- 
school basis but shall not identify victims of 
bullying or harassment or persons accused of 
bullying or harassment. 
‘‘(C) REPORT.—The chief executive officer 
of the State, in cooperation with the State edu-
cational agency, shall— 
‘‘(i) submit a biennial report on the 
information described in this paragraph to 
the Secretary; and 
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‘‘(ii) make such information readily 
available to the public. 
‘‘(2) NEEDS
ASSESSMENT.—The State shall 
conduct, and publicly report the results of, a needs 
assessment for bullying and harassment prevention 
programs, which shall be based on ongoing State 
evaluation activities, including data on— 
‘‘(A) the incidence and prevalence of re-
ported incidents of bullying and harassment; 
and 
‘‘(B) the perception of students, parents, 
and communities regarding their school envi-
ronment, including with respect to the preva-
lence and seriousness of incidents of bullying 
and harassment and the responsiveness of the 
school to those incidents. 
‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The State shall 
provide technical assistance to local educational 
agencies and schools in their efforts to prevent and 
appropriately respond to incidents of bullying and 
harassment. 
‘‘(b) AVAILABLE FUNDING FOR STATES.—To imple-
ment the requirements described in subsection (a), the 
State may use— 
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‘‘(1) administrative funds consolidated under 
section 9201; or 
‘‘(2) other funds available to the State under 
this Act, to the extent consistent with the authorized 
uses of such funds. 
‘‘SEC. 4403. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL
AGENCY
DISCIPLINE 
POLICIES, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, AND GRIEVANCE 
PROCEDURES.—Each local educational agency that re-
ceives funds under this Act shall— 
‘‘(1) include within the agency’s comprehensive 
discipline policies clear prohibitions against bullying 
and harassment for the protection of all students; 
‘‘(2) establish and monitor performance indica-
tors for incidents of bullying and harassment; 
‘‘(3) provide annual notice to parents, students, 
and educational professionals— 
‘‘(A) describing the full range of bullying 
and harassment conduct prohibited by the agen-
cy’s discipline policies; and 
‘‘(B) reporting on the numbers and nature 
of bullying and harassment incidents for each 
school served by the local educational agency; 
and 
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‘‘(4) establish and provide annual notice to stu-
dents, parents, and educational professionals of 
grievance procedures for students, parents, or edu-
cational professionals who seek to register com-
plaints regarding bullying and harassment prohib-
ited by the discipline policies, including— 
‘‘(A) the name of the local educational 
agency official who is designated as responsible 
for receiving such complaints; and 
‘‘(B) timelines that the local educational 
agency will follow in the resolution of such com-
plaints. 
‘‘(b) AVAILABLE
FUNDING
FOR
LOCAL
EDU-
CATIONAL AGENCIES.—To implement the requirements 
described in subsection (a), the local educational agency 
may use— 
‘‘(1) administrative funds consolidated under 
section 9203; or 
‘‘(2) other funds available to the local edu-
cational agency under this Act, to the extent con-
sistent with the authorized uses of such funds. 
‘‘SEC. 4404. EVALUATION. 
‘‘(a) BIENNIAL EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 
conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 
to combat bullying and harassment in elementary schools 
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and secondary schools, including implementation of the re-
quirements described in sections 4402 and 4403, including 
whether such programs have appreciably reduced the level 
of bullying and harassment and have conducted effective 
parent involvement and training programs. 
‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION.—The Commissioner for 
Education Statistics shall collect data, that are subject to 
independent review, to determine the incidence and preva-
lence of bullying and harassment in elementary schools 
and secondary schools in the United States. The collected 
data shall include incident reports by school officials, 
anonymous student surveys, anonymous parent surveys, 
and anonymous teacher, administrator, specialized in-
structional support personnel, and other school personnel 
surveys. 
‘‘(c) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 
2012, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 
submit to the President and Congress a report on the find-
ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to-
gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 
data 
submitted 
by 
the 
States 
under 
section 
4402(a)(1)(C)(i). 
‘‘SEC. 4405. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this part: 
‘‘(1) BULLYING.—The term ‘bullying’— 
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