[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 79 (Tuesday, May 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H3947-H3949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER ASSESSMENT ACT OF 2018
Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 5242) to require the Attorney General and the Secretary of
Education to conduct a survey of all public schools to determine the
number of school resource officers at such schools, as amended.
[[Page H3948]]
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 5242
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 ``School Resource Officer
Assessment Act of 2018''.
SEC. 2. SURVEY OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this
Act, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education
shall jointly conduct and submit to Congress, a survey of the
assignment of school resource officers at public elementary
schools and secondary schools, which shall include, with
respect to each such school that chose to respond to such
survey, a determination of whether--
(1) on or after January 1, 2018, such a school has been
assigned a school resource officer; and
(2) in the case of a school that has been assigned such an
officer--
(A) the number of such assignments; and
(B) whether each such assignment is on a full-time or part-
time basis.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ESEA terms.--The terms ``elementary school'' and
``secondary school'' have the meanings given the terms in
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(2) School resource officer.--The term ``school resource
officer'' has the meaning given the term in section 1709(4)
of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34
U.S.C. 10389(4)).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Rokita) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.
General Leave
Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 5242.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5242, the School
Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018. As we focus on our work in
this Chamber this afternoon, it is fitting that we recognize that it
is, as my colleagues have so far pointed out, National Police Week.
One of my great privileges as a Member of Congress is to interact
with members of the law enforcement community and see firsthand the
selflessness and true sense of service that they bring to their work.
Any one of us might say we want to protect and serve our communities,
but it is these fine men and women who walk the walk every day. Their
tireless efforts to improve public safety and build relationships
across communities and with all of their fellow citizens deserve our
appreciation and our total support and respect.
One of the best ways we as legislators can support members of the law
enforcement community is by using data and not emotion as the basis of
the decisions we make here in Washington that impact the way local law
enforcement officials have to do their jobs.
H.R. 5242, the School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018, seeks
to improve our decisions by providing better data on the work of law
enforcement in schools.
The research and evidence that comes from the appropriate use of data
can improve our understanding of how these policies work and the best
ways to support the efforts of community leaders across our Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I commend the tireless sacrifices made by those in the
law enforcement community and their families especially, and I thank
them for their service. I simply urge my colleagues to support this
legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5242. This legislation under
consideration today will improve our understanding about the role of
school resource officers. But we must acknowledge that this bill barely
scratches the surface of what is actually required to keep our schools
safe, and I urge this body to do more.
In the wake of February's tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Florida, many have called for a so-called Federal focus
on hardening of our schools, which includes increasing Federal dollars
to hire more police officers and embracing the most harsh punishments
for school discipline, and even allowing school teachers to carry
firearms, despite the overwhelming evidence that many of these
initiatives do more harm than good.
In fact, anyone hoping for a discussion of evidence-based methods for
preventing school violence must be profoundly disappointed at our
reaction since February.
Anyone hoping that the call for harsher school discipline would be
sensitive to how it would be applied to students of color and those
with disabilities must be disappointed.
Anyone hoping this Chamber would find the political will to take a
stand with parents, students, and the overwhelming majority of
Americans to take action on sensible gun legislation must be
disappointed.
We have failed to act as one after another of these unthinkable
tragedies have become commonplace.
In the decades since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School,
States and districts have rushed to increase school-based law
enforcement presence. The Parkland tragedy serves as a painful reminder
that this effort has not, despite its best efforts, eliminated mass
school shootings.
Nearly two decades later, mass shootings in schools still persist,
while student behavior has been criminalized, leading to millions of
students entering the school-to-prison pipeline.
H.R. 5242 would direct the Departments of Justice and Education to
conduct voluntary data collection on school districts' hiring of law
enforcement officers. And I would remind my colleagues that we have a
tool that collects a lot of data, not only on the presence of school
officers, but also on how they impact school equity.
{time} 1700
I urge my colleagues to stand in defense of the Civil Rights Data
Collection. That is the Civil Rights Data Collection which collects
data on equity in education, data such as access to advanced placement
courses, data on suspensions, data on access to pre-K and other
questions of access and equity, and would call on the Trump
administration to affirm its intent to maintain the integrity of that
collection.
Mr. Speaker, I also urge my colleagues to stand with students and
parents in defense of civil rights under the guise of school safety.
The Trump administration has signaled its intent to revoke the
Education-Justice discipline guidance that provides districts with the
tools to address racial disparities in discipline in a way that would
not jeopardize school safety and ensure that school law enforcement
officers are trained to serve in a school setting.
Without a shred of evidence, Secretary DeVos has blamed mass school
shootings on civil rights protections and the guidance that clarifies
district-level obligations under Federal civil rights law.
I urge my colleagues to join me in calling on President Trump and
Secretary DeVos to discontinue their misinformation campaign and
maintain the entire so-called rethink discipline package. As districts
rush to hire resource officers, this body must commit to maintaining
resources that empower districts to do so without negatively impacting
equity in education.
Mr. Speaker, I also urge this body to increase investments in
education. Teachers and students need access to mental health services,
counseling, and evidence-based violence prevention programming.
Teachers need comprehensive support, including increased salaries. The
conversation on school safety that speaks only to hardening of the
schools and hiring law enforcement officers will harm far more people
than it will protect.
Lastly, I urge this body to consider and pass commonsense gun safety
legislation. Gun violence in and outside of the school is a public
health epidemic that merits bold and bipartisan congressional support.
Meanwhile, this bill does provide for the collection of data and the
hiring of police officers in our schools. This information can be
helpful as we decide how to best allocate resources to address school
safety.
Mr. Speaker, I therefore support the bill, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
[[Page H3949]]
Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for supporting the
bill.
I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana
(Mr. Higgins), my good friend.
Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of
H.R. 5242, the School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018, as
amended. I am the author of this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, so far, in 2018, there have been 21 school shootings
that have resulted in injuries or loss of life. While it is impossible
for us to anticipate every attempt and impossible to enact regulations
that would prevent them, one thing we can do is to ensure that
honorable, patriotic, public servants are available to guard our
schools, students, and teachers against acts of violence. Considering
the recent string of school shootings, it has become clear that
increasing the use of school resource officers should play a major role
in protecting our schools.
Currently, there are 95,230 public schools in the United States. Our
research has clarified that hard data does not exist regarding law
enforcement assets at these schools. We estimate--and we can only
estimate--that there may be a 30 percent utilization of school resource
officers across the Nation.
Mr. Speaker, the first step in promoting school safety is evaluating
what SRO assets we have on the ground and how public schools are using
them. After we have a clear understanding of the field, we in Congress
will be able to more effectively direct resources to where they are
most needed. That is why I have introduced this bill.
My bill would simply give Congress the information we need to make
effective decisions regarding school safety by requiring the U.S.
Attorney General and the U.S. Secretary of Education to gather data
regarding the number and status of school resource officers assigned to
each public school in the United States.
My bill is a commonsense, information-gathering bill that has
bipartisan support and has been endorsed by the National Association of
School Resource Officers. This legislation is the first piece of
several initiatives I will be introducing and supporting to secure our
schools.
I would like to thank Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott, who
are on the Education and the Workforce Committee, and their staffs for
their help in getting this bill to the floor. I would also like to
thank the cosponsors of my bill, in particular, Representative
Ruppersberger, for his help in this process.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
support this commonsense legislation.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Louisiana for introducing this bill. I urge my colleagues to support
it, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins), my friend, for
introducing this bill. I am bringing it forward as an opportunity to
support safer communities and those who take on the responsibility and
make the sacrifices to make our schools safer.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Higgins for his service not just to this
institution and to his constituents, but to the citizens of this
country he protected as a military police officer, as well as those in
Louisiana, where he served as local law enforcement. Like all of the
men and women we honor for National Police Week this week, our
colleague from Louisiana has ``walked the walk'' and it is an honor to
serve with him.
Mr. Speaker, I simply urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R.
5242, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Zeldin). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5242, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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