[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4000 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4000

To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention 
                and reduction of conflict and violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 3, 2009

   Mr. Rush introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide assistance to local educational agencies for the prevention 
                and reduction of conflict and violence.

    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 ``Conflict Resolution and Mediation 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) On Wednesday, October 7, 2009, in a speech detailing 
        the violence that our youth face, Secretary of Education Arne 
        Duncan noted that, currently, 30 percent of students, or about 
        1,200,000 students a year, fail to complete high school on 
        time.
            (2) The Division of Violence Prevention within the Centers 
        for Disease Control observed that ``violence diminishes and 
        destroys the quality of life and freedom of individuals, 
        families and communities . . . young people cannot learn and 
        succeed in life if they are afraid to go to school''.
            (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find 
        that young people are both the victims and perpetrators of 
        violence, with homicide being the second leading cause of death 
        for young people between the ages of 10 and 24.
            (4) The U.S. Conference of Mayors states that youth 
        violence is a public health crisis and have declared that 
        ``[w]e can't arrest our way out of this problem . . . 
        prevention is the key to long-term success''.
            (5) In 2007, of a nationally representative sample of 
        students in grades 9 through 12, 4.2 percent reported being in 
        a physical fight one or more times in the previous 12 months 
        that resulted in injuries that had to be treated by a doctor or 
        nurse.
            (6) In a 2007 nationally representative sample of youth in 
        grades 9 through 12 regarding violence-related behaviors, the 
        CDC found--
                    (A) 12.4 percent reported being in a physical fight 
                on school property in the 12 months preceding the 
                survey, with 16.3 percent of male students and 8.5 
                percent of female students reported being in a physical 
                fight on school property in the 12 months preceding the 
                survey;
                    (B) 27.1 percent of students reported having 
                property stolen or deliberately damaged on school 
                property and 5.5 percent did not go to school on one or 
                more days in the 30 days preceding the survey because 
                they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from 
                school; and
                    (C) 5.9 percent reported carrying a weapon (gun, 
                knife, or club) on school property on one or more days 
                in the 30 days preceding the survey and 7.8 percent 
                reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on 
                school property one or more times.
            (7) In a 2007 nationally representative sample of youth in 
        grades 9 through 12 regarding youth violence, the CDC found--
                    (A) 35.5 percent reported being in a physical fight 
                in the 12 months preceding the survey; the prevalence 
                was higher among males (44.4 percent) than females 
                (26.5 percent); and
                    (B) 18 percent reported carrying a weapon (gun, 
                knife, or club) on one or more days in the 30 days 
                preceding the survey and 5.2 percent carried a gun on 
                one or more days in the 30 days preceding the survey.
            (8) An estimated 30 percent of 6th to 10th graders in the 
        United States were either a bully, a target of bullying, or 
        both.
            (9) From 1992 to 1999, perpetrators of school-associated 
        homicides were nine times as likely as victims to have 
        exhibited some form of suicidal behavior before the event, and 
        were more than twice as likely as victims to have been bullied 
        by their peers and more than half of the incidents over this 
        period were preceded by some signal, such as threats, notes, or 
        journal entries that indicated the potential for the coming 
        event.
            (10) Most of the violent events involving students occur 
        during the transition times around the start of the school day, 
        the lunch period, and at the end of the school day.
            (11) While rates of school-associated student homicides 
        decreased between 1992 and 2006, they remained relatively 
        stable in recent years and were significantly higher for males, 
        students in secondary schools, and students in central cities.
            (12) From 1999 to 2006, most school-associated homicides 
        included gunshot wounds (65 percent), stabbing or cutting (27 
        percent), and beating (12 percent).
            (13) The CDC estimates that women experience 4,800,000 
        Intimate Partner Violence, or domestic-related, physical 
        assaults and rapes per year and men are the victims of about 
        2,900,000 IPV-related physical assaults annually.
            (14) Children who bear the burden of witnessing violent 
        acts, whether at home, in school, or in their communities must 
        be taught coping mechanisms before they are desensitized to 
        violence and violent acts.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide assistance to 
local educational agencies for the prevention and reduction of conflict 
and violence in schools throughout the country.

SEC. 3. CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND MEDIATION PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Education is authorized to make 
grants to local educational agencies to provide assistance to schools 
served by the agency that are most directly affected by conflict and 
violence.
    (b) Model Project.--The Secretary shall develop a written model for 
conflict resolution and mediation written within 90 days and make such 
model available to any local educational agency that requests such 
information.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and such sums as may be 
necessary for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2015 to carry out 
the projects under this Act.

SEC. 4. USE OF FUNDS.

    Grants made by the Secretary under this Act shall be used to 
develop programs for conflict resolution and mediation for students, 
teachers, and other personnel in regular contact with students at 
school.

SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.

    (a) In General.--In order to be eligible to receive a grant under 
this Act for any fiscal year, a local educational agency shall submit 
an application to the Secretary in such form and containing such 
information as the Secretary may reasonably require.
    (b) Requirements.--Each application under subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) a request for funds for the purposes described in 
        section 2(b);
            (2) information about the schools and communities to be 
        served by the grant, including the nature of the conflict and 
        violence problems within and around the schools;
            (3) statistical information in such form and containing 
        such information that the Secretary may require regarding 
        conflict and violence within such schools and surrounding 
        communities; and
            (4) assurances that Federal funds received under this Act 
        shall be used to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds 
        that would otherwise be available for activities funded under 
        this Act.
    (c) Comprehensive Plan.--Each application shall include a 
comprehensive plan that shall contain--
            (1) a description of the conflict and violence problems 
        within the schools served by the local educational agency and 
        surrounding community targeted for assistance;
            (2) a description of the resources available in the 
        community to help implement the plan together with a 
        description of the areas in the plan that cannot be filled with 
        existing resources; and
            (3) a description of the system the applicant will 
        establish to prevent and reduce ongoing conflict and violence 
        problems.

SEC. 6. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS; LIMITATIONS ON GRANTS.

    (a) Administrative Cost Limitation.--The Secretary shall use not 
more than 5 percent of the funds available under this Act for the 
purposes of administration and technical assistance.
    (b) Renewal of Grants.--A grant under this Act may be renewed for 
not more than 2 additional years after the first fiscal year during 
which the recipient receives an initial grant under this Act, subject 
to the availability of funds, if--
            (1) the Secretary determines that the funds made available 
        to the recipient during the previous year were used in a manner 
        required under the approved application; and
            (2) the Secretary determines that an additional grant is 
        necessary to implement the violence prevention program 
        described in the comprehensive plan as required by section 
        5(c).

SEC. 7. AWARD OF GRANTS.

    (a) Selection of Recipients.--The Secretary shall consider the 
following factors in awarding grants to local educational agencies:
            (1) Conflict and violence problem.--The nature and scope of 
        the violence problem in the targeted schools.
            (2) Need and ability.--Demonstrated need and evidence of 
        the ability to provide the services described in the plan 
        required under section 5(c).
            (3) Population.--The number of students to be served by the 
        plan required under section 5(c).
    (b) Geographic Distribution.--The Secretary shall attempt, to the 
extent practicable, to achieve an equitable geographic distribution of 
grant awards.

SEC. 8. REPORTS.

    (a) Reports.--Local educational agencies that receive funds under 
this Act shall submit to the Secretary a detailed report not later than 
March 1 of each year that describes progress achieved in carrying out 
the plan required under section 5(c).
    (b) Report to Congress.--The Secretary shall submit to the Congress 
a report by October 1 of each year in which grants are made available 
under this Act which shall contain a detailed statement regarding grant 
awards, activities of grant recipients, a compilation of statistical 
information submitted by applicants under section 5(b)(3), and an 
evaluation of programs established under this Act.

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purpose of this Act:
            (1) The term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
            (2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Education.
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