[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5295 Referred in Senate (RFS)]


109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5295


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 20, 2006

     Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
                   To protect students and teachers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Student and Teacher Safety Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States Department of Education's National 
        Center for Education Statistics reported in the 2005 Indicators 
        of School Crime and Safety that in 2003 seventeen percent of 
        students in grades 9-12 reported they carried a weapon. Six 
        percent reported having carried a weapon on school grounds.
            (2) The same survey reported that 29 percent of all 
        students in grades 9-12 reported that someone offered, sold, or 
        gave them an illegal drug on school property within the last 12 
        months.
            (3) The United States Constitution's Fourth Amendment 
        guarantees ``the right of the people to be secure in their 
        persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
        searches and seizures''.
            (4) That while the Supreme Court affirmed the Fourth 
        Amendment's application to students in public schools in New 
        Jersey vs. TLO (1985), the Court held that searches of students 
        by school officials do not require warrants issued by judges 
        showing probable cause. The Court will ordinarily hold that 
        such a search is permissible if--
                    (A) there are reasonable grounds for suspecting the 
                search will reveal evidence that the student violated 
                the law or school rules; and
                    (B) the measures used to conduct the search are 
                reasonably related to the search's objectives, without 
                being excessively intrusive in light of the student's 
                age, sex, and nature of the offense.
            (5) The Supreme Court held in Board of Education of 
        Independent Sch. Dist. 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls 
        (2002) that random drug testing of students who were 
        participating in extracurricular activities was reasonable and 
        did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court stated that 
        such search policies effectively serve the School Districts 
        interest in protecting its students' health and safety.

SEC. 3. SEARCHES BASED ON REASONABLE SUSPICION.

    (a) In General.--Each local educational agency shall have in effect 
throughout the jurisdiction of the agency policies that ensure that a 
search described in subsection (b) is deemed reasonable and 
permissible.
    (b) Searches Covered.--A search referred to in subsection (a) is a 
search by a full-time teacher or school official, acting on any 
reasonable suspicion based on professional experience and judgment, of 
any minor student on the grounds of any public school, if the search is 
conducted to ensure that classrooms, school buildings, school property 
and students remain free from the threat of all weapons, dangerous 
materials, or illegal narcotics. The measures used to conduct any 
search must be reasonably related to the search's objectives, without 
being excessively intrusive in light of the student's age, sex, and the 
nature of the offense.

SEC. 4. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROTECT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.

    (a) In General.--A local educational agency that fails to comply 
with section 3 shall not, during the period of noncompliance, receive 
any Safe and Drug Free School funds after fiscal year 2008.
    (b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``Safe and Drug Free 
School funds'' includes any funds under Part A of Title IV of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

            Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 2006.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.