[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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