1.This Act may be cited as the
Safe Schools Against Violence in
Education Act
or the SAVE Act
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The Secretary of
Education reports that from 2003 to 2009 there have never been more than 47
schools in the entire Nation reported annually as persistently
dangerous.
(2)The Office of the
New York State Comptroller’s May 2006 report found that at schools sampled for
this report more than 80 percent of the documented incidents were not reported
to the State, and in a number of instances the most serious types of incidents,
such as sexual offenses and incidents involving the use of a weapon, were
unreported.
(3)In December 2009,
the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Justice
Statistics released a joint report that contains the most recent data, based on
self-reported information and surveys, available on crime and student safety,
titled Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009
(the
Indicators
report).
(4)According to the
Indicators
report, in the 2007–2008 school year, there were an
estimated 55,700,000 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The report
shows that among youth ages 5 to 18, there were 43 school-associated violent
deaths from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. In 2007, among students ages
12 to 18, there were about 1.5 million victims of nonfatal crimes at school,
including 826,800 thefts and 684,100 violent crimes (simple assault and serious
violent crime).
(5)In 2007, 10
percent of male students in grade 9 through grade 12 reported being threatened
or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year, compared to 5
percent of female students.
(6)The
Indicators
report states that in 2007, 5 percent of students
ages 12 to 18 reported that they had been afraid of attack at school.
(7)The
Indicators
report states in 2007, 32 percent of students ages 12
to 18 reported having been bullied in schools during the school year.
(8)The National
Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) was developed by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. NIBRS
currently collects data on all reported incidents of crime, including crime
occurring at school.
(9)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 implemented to promote school safety and to assess
whether additional efforts are needed.
(10)Students involved
in bullying are at a significant risk of experiencing a wide spectrum of
psychosomatic symptoms, running away from home, alcohol and drug abuse,
absenteeism and, above all, self-inflicted, accidental or perpetrated
injuries.
(11)Unlike
traditional forms of bullying, youth who are the targets of cyberbullying at
school are at greater risk for depression than are the youth who bully them,
according to a survey conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of
Health.
4.School safety
choice option
(a)Section 9532 of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7912) is amended to read as follows:
9532.
(a)State policies
and Report
(1)As a condition of receiving funds under part A of title
I, a State shall—
(A)establish and
implement—
(i)a
statewide policy requiring that—
(I)a student
described in
paragraph (2) be allowed to attend a
public elementary school or secondary school (including a public charter
school) within a local educational agency under the jurisdiction of the State
that has a safe climate for academic achievement; and
(II)determinations with respect to which public
elementary schools and secondary schools in the State do not have a safe
climate for academic achievement are made in accordance with
subsection (b); and
(ii)a
statewide policy with respect to offenders described in
paragraph (3); and
(B)report to the
Secretary, on an annual basis—
(i)the number of
schools determined by the State to not have a safe climate for academic
achievement;
(ii)the number of
students who have transferred from such schools; and
(iii)the number of
offenders who have been removed from school pursuant to this section.
(2)A student described in this paragraph is a
student—
(A)who is attending a
public elementary school or secondary school that does not have a safe climate
for academic achievement, as determined by the State in accordance with
subsection (b); or
(B)who becomes a
victim of a violent criminal offense, as determined by State law—
(i)while in or on the
grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student
attends;
(ii)at a school event
or activity under the control and supervision of such school; or
(iii)on a school bus
under the control and supervision of such school.
(3)Policies with
respect to offendersA State
policy with respect to offenders shall—
(A)permit a public
elementary or secondary school in which a violent criminal offense described in
paragraph (2)(B) occurs or, in a
case in which such offense did not occur in or on school grounds, a public
elementary school or secondary school that had control and supervision over the
event or activity or on the school bus where such offense occurred, to provide
appropriate counseling and educational services to the offender of the offense
in an alternative setting if removal of the offender from the school is
determined to be appropriate by the school; and
(B)require that a
school described in
subparagraph (A) that knows that an
offender of a violent criminal offense described in
paragraph (2)(B) is returning to
the school notify, as soon as practicable prior to the offender’s return to the
school, the parents of each victim of the offense committed by the offender
that the offender is returning to the school.
(b)Determinations
of safe climate
(1)A State policy with
respect to determining which public elementary schools and secondary schools in
the State do not have a safe climate for academic achievement shall require
that—
(A)a State make such
determinations—
(i)by
consulting with—
(I)a representative
sample of local educational agencies, parent groups, and local law enforcement
agencies; or
(II)other experts in
the area of school safety;
(ii)based, at a
minimum, on school crime statistics and data—
(I)collected by the
State pursuant to section 4141 and under
subsection (c) of this section;
and
(II)made available by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to
subsection (d); and
(iii)in time to permit a local educational
agency to allow a student enrolled in a school that does not have a safe
climate for academic achievement to instead enroll, at least 45 days before the
start of the school year, at a school with a safe climate for academic
achievement;
(B)after making
determinations in accordance with
subparagraph (A), the State
shall—
(i)notify each local educational agency in the State serving schools that are
determined to not have a safe climate for academic achievement of such schools;
and
(ii)require that
within a week of receiving notice under
clause (i), a local educational
agency shall provide to the parent of each student enrolled in each such
school, a notice of the determination with respect to the school that meets the
requirements of
paragraph (2); and
(C)a school
determined under this paragraph to not have a safe climate for academic
achievement develop, in consultation with parents, students, school employees,
local law enforcement, representatives of local public health and mental health
agencies, and experts in school safety, an intervention plan to create a safer
school environment that is based on an analysis of the data and school crime
statistics with respect to such school—
(i)collected by the
State under section 4141 and subsection (c) of this section; and
(ii)made available by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to
subsection (d).
(2)A notice to a parent
under
paragraph (1)(B)(ii)
shall—
(A)describe the
determination with respect to the school in which the child of the parent is
enrolled and explain that, by reason of the determination and pursuant to
subsection (a)(1)(A)(i), the child may
attend a school that has a safe climate for academic achievement within the
local educational agency; and
(B)be written in an
understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language
that the parent can understand.
(c)Collection of
relevant information and school crime statistics
(1)As a condition of
receiving funds under part A of title I, a State shall—
(A)collect the data
described in
paragraph (2) for use in
determinations of whether a school has a safe climate for academic achievement
for purposes of
subsection (a)(1)(A)(i); and
(B)not later than 1
year after the first time information is collected under subparagraph (A) and
annually thereafter—
(i)prepare, publish,
and distribute, in a timely manner and through appropriate publications,
mailings, or the Internet, to all students enrolled in a public elementary
school or secondary school in the State, the families of such students, and
school staff, an annual report containing, at a minimum, the school crime
statistics collected under
paragraph (2)(G); and
(ii)submit to the
Secretary such statistics.
(2)The data described in this paragraph
include—
(A)truancy rates with
respect to each public elementary school and secondary school in the
State;
(B)the frequency,
seriousness, and incidence of bullying, cyberbullying, violence, and
drug-related offenses, at—
(i)any event or
activity under the control and supervision of an public elementary school or
secondary school in the State; or
(ii)on school buses
under the control and supervision of any such school or the State;
(C)suspension rates
for 1 day or more, including in-school suspensions, and expulsion rates,
desegregated by the categories described in section 1111(b)(3)(C)(viii), with
respect to each elementary school and secondary school in the State;
(D)the types of
violence prevention curricula, programs, and services provided by the chief
executive officer, the State educational agency, and local educational
agencies, in the State;
(E)the incidence and
prevalence, age of onset, perception of health risk, and perception of social
disapproval of drug use and violence by youth in each public elementary school
and secondary school in the State and community served by each such
school;
(F)the existence and implementation of
emergency preparedness plans in each elementary school and secondary school in
the State; and
(G)the school crime statistics described in
paragraph (3) with respect to each
public elementary school and secondary school in the State.
(3)The school crime statistics described in this
paragraph include statistics concerning the occurrence of any criminal offenses
reported to local police agencies that have occurred at a school, on school
grounds, or at school-sponsored activities during the most recent calendar year
and the 2 preceding calendar years, including—
(A)murder;
(B)sex offenses,
forcible or nonforcible;
(C)robbery;
(D)aggravated
assault;
(E)burglary;
(F)manslaughter;
(G)arson; and
(H)crimes for which a
person has been arrested or referred for disciplinary action, including for
liquor law violations, drug-related violations, or weapons possession.
(4)Data collection
requirementsData collected by a State under
paragraph (1) shall be based on
information that—
(A)is verifiable and
reported—
(i)in
a consistent and uniform manner; and
(ii)in a manner
consistent with the guidance provided under
subsection (g); and
(B)allows for
State-by-State comparison and the evaluation described in
subsection (i).
(5)The Secretary shall—
(A)review the school
crime statistics submitted under
paragraph
(1)(B)(ii);
(B)report to Congress
on the school crime statistics; and
(C)make such
information publicly available.
(6)Identification
of individualsThe school crime statistics collected and
published under
paragraph (1) may not identify victims
of crimes or persons accused of crimes.
(7)Inadmissibility
of EvidenceNotwithstanding any other provision of law, evidence
regarding compliance or noncompliance with this subsection shall not be
admissible as evidence in any proceeding of any court, agency, board, or other
entity, except with respect to an action to enforce this subsection.
(d)
(1)Report on
indicators of school crime and safetyThe Secretary shall request
the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to make available for
inclusion in the annual report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety,
produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau
of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice, any data or other
information the Federal Bureau of Investigation has available through the
Uniform Crime Reporting System or National Incident-Based Reporting System on
the occurrence and incidence of school-related crime in elementary schools and
secondary schools.
(2)The Secretary shall make available any data or other
information it receives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation under
paragraph (1) to the States for
consideration when determining which schools do not have a safe climate for
academic achievement for purposes of subsection (a).
(e)As a condition of receiving funds under part A of title I,
each State shall, on an ongoing basis, using verifiable documentation, monitor
and evaluate the extent to which local educational agencies are in compliance
with this section.
(f)As
a condition of receiving funds under part A of title I, a State shall certify
in writing to the Secretary that the data and crime statistics used are
verifiable and that the State is in compliance with this section.
(g)The Secretary shall provide to States guidance on best
practices for implementing and monitoring the policies required by this
section.
(h)Handbook for
school crime, offense, and incident reporting
(1)Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of
the SAVE Act, the Secretary shall publish a handbook for school crime, offense,
and incident reporting, modeled after the Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting
published by the Office of Postsecondary Education of the Department of
Education, to—
(A)provide clear
guidance to States and local educational agencies on specifically which crimes,
offenses, and incidents must be reported to meet the reporting and crime
disclosure requirements of this section;
(B)provide assistance
to States and local educational agencies and explanations in a step-by-step and
readable manner with respect to the reporting requirements;
(C)provide contact
information at the Department of Education if further assistance is necessary;
and
(D)recommendations of
the Secretary on using consistent national definitions for the crimes,
offenses, and incidents which are required to be reported pursuant to this
section.
(i)The Inspector General of the Department of Education
shall conduct an independent annual evaluation of the extent to which States
are in compliance with this section. Each annual evaluation shall cover a
sample of States selected on a rotating basis.
(j)Nothing in this section shall be construed
to—
(1)authorize the
Secretary to require particular policies, procedures, or practices by schools
and local educational agencies with respect to crimes committed at school, on
school grounds, or at school-sponsored activities;
(2)confer a private
right of action upon any person to enforce this section;
(3)require the
reporting or disclosure of privileged information;
(4)create a cause of
action against any school or any employee of a school for any civil liability
or establish any standard of care; or
(5)permit a school,
or an officer, employee, or agent of a school, participating in any program
under this Act to retaliate, intimidate, threaten, coerce, or otherwise
discriminate against any individual with respect to the implementation of any
provision of this section.
(k)In
this section:
(1)The term bullying means
conduct that—
(A)adversely affects
the ability of one or more students to participate in or benefit from a
school’s educational programs or activities by placing the student (or
students) in reasonable fear of physical harm; and
(B)includes conduct
that is based on—
(i)a
student’s actual or perceived—
(I)race;
(II)color;
(III)national
origin;
(IV)sex;
(V)disability;
(VI)sexual
orientation;
(VII)gender identity;
or
(VIII)religion;
(ii)any other
distinguishing characteristics that may be defined by a State or local
educational agency; or
(iii)association with
a person or group with one or more of the actual or perceived characteristics
listed in clause (i) or (ii).
(2)The
term cyberbulling means using the Internet, a cell phone (such as
by text messaging), a video game system, or other technology to send or post
text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another
individual.
.
(b)The table of contents at the beginning of such Act is
amended by striking the item relating to section 9532 and inserting the
following:
Sec. 9532. Safe School
Climate.
.
5.Section 4141 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7151) is
amended—
(1)in subsection
(d)—
(A)in paragraph (1)
by striking ; and
at the end;
(B)in paragraph
(2)—
(i)in
the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting or any modifications
allowed under subsection (b) that result in removals or long-term suspensions
rather than expulsions,
after subsection (b),
;
(ii)in
subparagraph (B), by inserting , removed, or suspended for a long
term
after expelled
; and
(iii)in
subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end and inserting ;
and
; and
(C)by adding at the
end the following:
(3)a description of
the circumstances surrounding every incident in which any person, including a
student or non-student, who is not legally permitted to possess a firearm is
determined to have brought a firearm to, or to have possessed a firearm at, a
school served by such local education agency, an event or activity under the
control and supervision of the school or local educational agency, or on a
school bus under the control and supervision of the school or local educational
agency, including—
(A)the name of the
school concerned;
(B)the number of
persons, including students and non-students, involved; and
(C)the type of
firearms concerned; and
(4)a certification
that the information in the application is accurate and
complete.
;
and
(2)by adding at the
end the following:
(i)Each State receiving Federal funds under any title of this
Act shall, on an ongoing basis, evaluate the extent to which local educational
agencies are in compliance with this section. The evaluation shall include an
assessment of the accuracy of the information provided under subsection (d). A
local educational agency that intentionally fails to report complete and
accurate information under subsection (d) shall be determined to be
noncompliant with this section and shall not, during any period of
noncompliance, receive any funds made available to the State under any title of
this Act.
(j)The Inspector General of the Department of Education
shall conduct an independent annual evaluation of the extent to which States
are in compliance with this section. Each annual evaluation shall cover a
sample of States selected on a rotating
basis.
.
6.
(a)Section 4121(a) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 7131) is
amended—
(1)in the matter
preceding paragraph (1)—
(A)by inserting
bullying and cyberbullying and
after prevent
; and
(B)by inserting
, including emergency preparedness,
after
safety
;
(2)in paragraph
(1)—
(A)by inserting
students,
after parents,
; and
(B)by inserting
, bullying and cyberbullying prevention, and emergency
preparedness
after violence prevention
;
(3)in paragraph (8)
by striking and
at the end;
(4)by redesignating
paragraph (9) as paragraph (10); and
(5)by inserting after
paragraph (8) the following:
(9)the administration
of a schoolwide climate survey of students, parents, and school personnel
that—
(A)should be used as
a pre- or post- intervention measure to—
(i)promote student
participation and the recognition of the student voice;
(ii)build authentic
school-home-community partnerships;
(iii)promote an
authentic learning community;
(iv)prevent bullying
and cyberbullying, and
(iv)create a
collaborative plan for school improvement; and
(B)should
measure—
(i)the degree to
which collaborative leadership and a professional learning community exist,
including—
(I)the degree to
which school administrators are effective in communicating with different role
groups and in setting high performance expectations for teachers and
students;
(II)the establishment
of an effective school leadership team; and
(III)the amount and
quality of involvement of parents and community members in the school;
(ii)the
personalization of the school environment, including—
(I)the quality of the
interpersonal and professional relationships between teachers and
students;
(II)student
self-discipline and tolerance for others, including incidents of bullying and
cyberbullying; and
(III)students’ care
and respect for one another and their mutual cooperation; and
(iii)the strength of
the curriculum, instruction, and assessment, including—
(I)student attention
to task and concern for achievement at school;
(II)the
identification of a set of essential knowledge and skills in core academic
areas in which students must demonstrate achievement in order to advance to the
next level; and
(III)the promotion of
service programs and student activities as integral to an education, providing
opportunities that support and extend academic learning for all students;
and
.
(b)Funding
priority; DefinitionsSection 4121 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 7131) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
(c)In
determining which entities are to receive grants, contracts, and cooperative
agreements under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider the extent to
which the proposed grant, contract, or cooperative agreement will benefit
schools determined under section 9532(b) to not have a safe climate for
academic achievement and shall give extra weight to proposals that will benefit
such schools.
(d)In
this section, the terms bullying and cyberbullying
have the meanings given such terms in section
9532(k).
.
7.It is the sense of
Congress that the amount authorized and appropriated for part A of title I of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.)
should be increased by such sums as may be necessary for States to carry out
the requirements of section 9532 of such Act.
8.This Act, and the
amendments made by this Act, shall take effect not later than 12 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act.