[House Report 117-307]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


117th Congress    }                                     {       Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session       }                                     {      117-307

======================================================================



 
              SCHOOL SHOOTING SAFETY AND PREPAREDNESS ACT

                                _______
                                

  May 6, 2022.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Scott of Virginia, from the Committee on Education and Labor, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                             MINORITY VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 5428]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Education and Labor, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 5428) to require the Secretary of Education, in 
consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, to publish an annual report on 
indicators of school crime and safety that includes data on 
school shootings, and for other purposes, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and 
recommends that the bill as amended do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     4
Committee Action.................................................     4
Committee Views..................................................     7
Section-by-Section Analysis......................................    13
Explanation of Amendments........................................    14
Application of Law to the Legislative Branch.....................    14
Unfunded Mandate Statement.......................................    14
Earmark Statement................................................    14
Roll Call Votes..................................................    14
Statement of Performance Goals and Objectives....................    19
Duplication of Federal Programs..................................    19
Hearings.........................................................    19
Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the 
  Committee......................................................    19
New Budget Authority and CBO Cost Estimate.......................    19
Committee Cost Estimate..........................................    20
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............    21
Minority Views...................................................    22

    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``School Shooting Safety and 
Preparedness Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

  In this Act:
          (1) Title 18 definitions.--The terms ``firearm'' and 
        ``ammunition'' have the meanings given such terms in section 
        921 of title 18, United States Code. The term ``large capacity 
        ammunition feeding device'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 921 of title 18, Unites States Code, as in effect on 
        September 1, 2004.
          (2) Mass shooting.--The term ``mass shooting'' means a 
        shooting during which three or more individuals, not including 
        the shooter, were injured or killed in one location or in 
        multiple locations in close proximity.
          (3) School.--The term ``school'' means--
                  (A) an early childhood education program (as defined 
                in section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1003));
                  (B) an elementary school (as defined in section 8101 
                of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
                (20 U.S.C. 7801));
                  (C) a secondary school (as defined in section 8101 of 
                the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 7801)); and
                  (D) an institution of higher education (as defined in 
                section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                U.S.C. 1002)).
          (4) School shooting.--The term ``school shooting'' means an 
        event or occurrence--
                  (A) during which one or more individuals were injured 
                or killed by a firearm; and
                  (B) that occurred--
                          (i) in, or on the grounds of, a school, even 
                        if before or after school hours;
                          (ii) while the victim was traveling to or 
                        from a regular session at school; or
                          (iii) while the victim was attending or 
                        traveling to or from an official school 
                        sponsored event.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORT ON INDICATORS OF SCHOOL CRIME AND SAFETY.

  (a) In General.--The Secretary of Education, in consultation with the 
Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 
publish not less frequently than on an annual basis a report on 
indicators of school crime and safety. Such report shall be produced by 
the National Center for Education Statistics of the Department of 
Education in consultation with the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the 
Department of Justice. Such report shall include, at a minimum, an 
updated version of the information provided in the National Center for 
Education Statistics report NCES 2021-092 issued in July 2021, and the 
data described in subsections (b) and (d).
  (b) Statistics on School Shootings.--In collecting data on school 
shootings to be compiled in the annual report described in subsection 
(a), the National Center for Education Statistics shall collect at a 
minimum the following data annually:
          (1) The number of school shootings that have taken place 
        nationwide.
          (2) Of the school shootings described in paragraph (1), the 
        number that were mass shootings.
          (3) Of the school shootings described in paragraph (1), the 
        number that were suicides.
          (4) Of the school shootings described in paragraph (1), the 
        number that were accidents.
          (5) The number of people killed in each school shooting, 
        including--
                  (A) the number of people whose cause of death was 
                attributable to wound by firearm; and
                  (B) the number of people having some other cause of 
                death.
          (6) The number of people injured in each school shooting, 
        including--
                  (A) the number of people wounded by firearm; and
                  (B) the number of people injured in some other 
                manner.
          (7) The time of the shooting and whether it occurred during 
        school hours.
          (8) The demographics of each school, including--
                  (A) the locale code of the school, as determined by 
                the Secretary of Education; and
                  (B) student demographic data disaggregated by--
                          (i) economically disadvantaged students as 
                        compared to students who are not economically 
                        disadvantaged;
                          (ii) each major racial and ethnic group;
                          (iii) children with disabilities as compared 
                        to children without disabilities; and
                          (iv) English proficiency status.
          (9) The personal characteristics of each victim in the 
        shooting, including, at a minimum, the victim's--
                  (A) age;
                  (B) gender;
                  (C) race;
                  (D) ethnicity; and
                  (E) nationality.
          (10) The personal characteristics of the shooter, including, 
        at a minimum the shooter's--
                  (A) age;
                  (B) gender;
                  (C) race;
                  (D) ethnicity;
                  (E) nationality; and
                  (F) relationship to the school.
          (11) Whether the shooting was determined to be an accident, 
        and if not, the motivation of the shooter, including any real 
        or perceived bias based on race, religion, ethnicity, 
        nationality, or sex (including sexual orientation or gender 
        identity).
          (12) How the shooting was stopped, including--
                  (A) whether the shooter was injured or killed, and if 
                so, by whom; and
                  (B) if not, what was the other outcome of the 
                incident (such as escape, arrest, or suicide).
          (13) The number and type of firearms and ammunition that were 
        used in each shooting, including--
                  (A) the make and model of the firearm;
                  (B) the manufacturer of the firearm;
                  (C) the make and model of the ammunition;
                  (D) the manufacturer of the ammunition;
                  (E) whether a large capacity ammunition feeding 
                device was present at the scene or used during the 
                shooting; and
                  (F) the number of rounds of ammunition fired by the 
                shooter over the course of the shooting.
          (14) Where each of the firearms used in each shooting was 
        obtained and how, including--
                  (A) whether the firearm was registered;
                  (B) whether the firearm was purchased from a licensed 
                gun dealer or an unlicensed sale; and
                  (C) the geographic location from where the shooter 
                obtained the firearm.
          (15) If the original purchaser was not the shooter, what was, 
        if any, the original purchaser's relationship to the shooter.
          (16) If the original purchaser was not the shooter and the 
        firearm was obtained from the shooter's home, the gun storage 
        practices being used in the home, and whether the gun owner was 
        charged with failing to properly secure his or her firearm.
          (17) Whether the school had one or more teachers, as that 
        term is defined in section 8553 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7943), who were armed, and if 
        so, whether such armed teacher or teachers stopped the incident 
        by shooting the shooter.
          (18) How long did the shooting last (the approximate elapsed 
        time between the first and last shots fired).
          (19) What was the response time of law enforcement.
  (c) Historic Statistics on School Shootings.--The Secretary of 
Education shall direct the National Center for Education Statistics--
          (1) to collect, to the extent practicable, the data required 
        in subsection (b) for shootings that occurred before the date 
        of the enactment of this Act; and
          (2) to publish such data as revisions to the most applicable 
        annual reports on indicators of school crime and safety issued 
        by the National Center for Education Statistics before the date 
        of the enactment of this Act.
  (d) Safety and Prevention.--In collecting data on school shootings to 
be compiled in the annual report described in subsection (a), the 
National Center for Education Statistics shall collect, at a minimum, 
information on the existence or absence of the following measures at 
the time of the shooting at schools where a school shooting occurred in 
the previous year:
          (1) Physical security measures, including--
                  (A) building envelopes and interiors designed to 
                protect occupants from human threats; and
                  (B) other physical security measures designed to 
                avert and restrict violence.
          (2) Other types of security measures, including measures 
        designed to preserve open learning environments that positively 
        influence student behavior.
          (3) A communication plan with local law enforcement.
          (4) A response plan that includes coordination with local 
        agencies (law enforcement, fire department, hospitals, etc).
          (5) An active shooter response plan (including the use of an 
        alert system to notify students, faculty, and parents or 
        guardians).
          (6) A trauma response plan to address trauma resulting from 
        the shooting, including coordination with school-based 
        counselors, other school mental health professionals, and 
        appropriate community partners and organizations, such as 
        community action programs or agencies.
          (7) Any other similar type of safety or prevention measure in 
        place at the time of the school shooting.
  (e) Rule of Construction.--In collecting data on school shootings to 
be compiled in the annual report described in subsection (a), any data 
disaggregation required by subsection (b) shall not be required in the 
case where such disaggregation would reveal personally identifiable 
information about any individual.

                          Purpose and Summary

    The purpose of H.R. 5428, the School Shooting Safety and 
Preparedness Act, is to direct the U.S. Department of Education 
(ED), in consultation with the U.S. Departments of Justice 
(DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS), to annually collect 
and report on indicators of school safety for all school 
shootings in prekindergarten through 12th grade (PreK-12) 
schools and institutions of higher education. The bill creates 
definitions of ``school shooting'' and ``mass shooting'' for 
the purpose of data collection. This would also be the first 
time these terms would be defined in federal law. In addition 
to the number of shootings, H.R. 5428 requires data collection 
on a number of factors related to school shootings, including 
the number of people killed and injured, the demographics of 
the shooter and victims, and the type of gun and ammunition 
used, among other factors. The bill also requires a historical 
collection and reporting of data on prior school shootings.

                            Committee Action


                             110TH CONGRESS

    On May 15, 2007, the Committee held a hearing entitled 
``Best Practices for Making College Campuses Safe'' exploring 
how institutions of higher education can better prepare for 
mass casualty events in the wake of the mass shooting at 
Virginia Tech University on April 16, 2007. Witnesses included: 
Mr. Steven J. Healy, President, International Association of 
Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) and Director of 
Department of Safety, Princeton University; Dr. Louann Kennedy, 
former Provost, California State University at Northridge; Dr. 
Dewey Cornell, Director, Virginia Youth Violence Project, 
University of Virginia School of Education; and, Dr. Jan 
Walbert, President, National Association of Student Personnel 
Administrators and Vice President for Student Affairs, Arcadia 
University.

                             113TH CONGRESS

    On February 27, 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled 
``Protecting Students and Teachers: A Discussion on School 
Safety'' which followed the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook 
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. 
The purpose of the hearing was to examine the different facets 
from which K-12 schools must approach student safety to prevent 
and mitigate violence. At the hearing, the Committee heard from 
six witnesses: Mr. Bill Bond, School Safety Specialist, 
National Association of Secondary School Principals, Paducah, 
KY; Mr. Mo Canady, Executive Director, National Association of 
School Resource Officers, Hoover, AL; Mr. Brett Bontrager, 
Senior Vice President and Group Executive of Stanley Security 
Solutions, Stanley Black & Decker; Mr. Fredrick Ellis, Director 
of Office of Safety and Security, Fairfax County Public 
Schools, VA; Dr. Vincent Pompei, School Counselor, Val Verde 
Unified School District, Perris, CA; and, Dr. David Osher, Vice 
President, American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC.

                             115TH CONGRESS

Other Legislative Action

    On February 16, 2018, then-Ranking Member Robert C. 
``Bobby'' Scott (D-VA) and the other 16 Democratic members of 
the Committee requested a hearing on school shootings and 
safety. While in direct response to the mass school shooting at 
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL on 
February 14, the request was also made in consideration of the 
increasing epidemic of school shootings since the Committee 
held its last school safety hearing five years prior.\1\ In the 
absence of a hearing despite repeated requests, Ranking Member 
Scott hosted a Member forum examining evidenced-based violence 
prevention and school safety measures on March 20, 2018. 
Panelists included Dr. Dewey G. Cornell, forensic clinical 
psychologist and professor of education, University of 
Virginia; Dr. Akil E. Ross, Sr., Principal, Chapin High School, 
Chapin, SC; and, Mrs. Stacey Lippel, English Teacher and 
Survivor of Shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 
Parkland, FL.
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    \1\Letter from Rep. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, Ranking Member, and 
16 other Minority Members of the H. Comm. on Educ. & the Workforce, to 
Rep. Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman, H. Comm. on Educ. & the Workforce (Feb. 
16, 2018) https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-02-
16%20Committee%20Democrats%20Request%20Hearing%20on%20School%20Shooting.
pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                             116TH CONGRESS

    On September 11, 2019, the Committee held a hearing 
entitled ``The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in 
Education to Assist Students Impacted by Gun Violence and Other 
Adversities'''. The Committee examined the different ways 
trauma manifests in students who experience mass shootings or 
high levels of community gun violence. The Committee heard 
testimony from: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Surgeon General, State 
of California; Dr. Ingrida Barker, Associate Superintendent, 
McDowell County Schools, Welch, WV; Dr. Janice Jackson, CEO, 
Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL; and, Mrs. Joy Hofmeister, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of Oklahoma.
    On September 12, 2019, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) introduced 
H.R. 4301, the School Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act, 
with Reps. Lucy McBath (D-GA) and Jahana Hayes (D-CT) as 
original co-sponsors. The bill was referred solely to the 
Committee on Education and Labor.
    On September 18, 2019, the Committee considered H.R. 4301 
in legislative session and reported it favorably, as amended, 
to the House of Representatives by a recorded vote of 27-22. 
The Committee considered the following amendments to H.R. 4301:
           Rep. McBath offered an amendment in the 
        nature of a substitute to make conforming and technical 
        changes in the bill. The amendment was adopted by a 
        recorded vote.
           Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC) offered 
        an amendment to the amendment in the nature of a 
        substitute, representing the minority substitute. The 
        Foxx amendment struck the definitions and mentions of 
        school shootings from the bill. The amendment was 
        defeated by a recorded vote of 22-25.

                             117TH CONGRESS

    On September 29, 2021, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) 
introduced H.R. 5428, the School Shooting Preparedness and 
Safety Act, with Reps. McBath and Hayes as original co-
sponsors. The bill was referred solely to the Committee on 
Education and Labor.
    On February 16, 2022, the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 
Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing entitled 
``Serving All Students: Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive 
School Environment.'' The hearing examined outdated discipline 
practices and highlighted ways schools can implement evidence-
based approaches to creating healthy school environments that 
support students' social, emotional, and academic development. 
During the hearing, members and witnesses also discussed the 
trauma of gun violence and the role of common-sense gun reform 
as part of the solution to create supportive and healthy 
schools. The Committee heard testimony from: Ms. Kristen 
Harper, Vice President for Public Policy and Engagement, Child 
Trends; Mr. Guy Stephens, Founder and Executive Director, 
Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint; Ms. Morgan Craven, 
J.D., National Director of Policy, Advocacy and Community 
Engagement, Intercultural Development Research Association; 
and, Mr. Max Eden, Research Fellow, American Enterprise 
Institute.
    On March 16, 2022, the Committee considered H.R. 5428 in 
legislative session and reported it favorably, as amended, to 
the House of Representatives by a recorded vote of 27-21. The 
Committee considered the following amendments to H.R. 5428:
           Rep. McBath offered an amendment in the 
        nature of a substitute to make conforming and technical 
        changes to the bill. The amendment was adopted by a 
        voice vote.
           Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) offered an 
        amendment to the amendment in the nature of a 
        substitute, representing the minority substitute. The 
        Owens amendment struck the definitions and mentions of 
        ``school shooting'' and ``mass shooting'' from the bill 
        and would require the Department of Education to 
        consult with the Department of Homeland Security in 
        collecting and publishing data on school safety while 
        eliminating the detailed data collection on school 
        shooting collected by the underlying bill. The 
        amendment was defeated by a recorded vote of 21-28.
           Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) offered an 
        amendment to include data collection and reporting on 
        the implementation of bail reform, the presence of 
        school resource officers at schools, and the 
        implementation of alternative discipline practices in 
        school districts that have experienced a school 
        shooting. The amendment was defeated by a recorded vote 
        of 22-27.
           Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA) offered an amendment 
        to include a study regarding school safety and school 
        choice, including whether increased school choice 
        increases perceptions of school safety. The amendment 
        was defeated by a recorded vote of 22-27.

                            Committee Views

    The United States experiences over 40,000 gun-related 
deaths and more than 73,000 gun-related injuries on average 
each year, equating to more than 110 deaths every day.\2\ 
Unfortunately, children have not been shielded from this tragic 
history. In 2018, gun violence was the leading cause of death 
for all children and teens. This marked the first time in our 
nation's history that more children and teens died from gun 
violence than those that died from motor vehicle accidents.\3\ 
Black children and teens had the highest gun death rate in 
2019, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native children and 
teens.\4\ And while schools should be safe havens where 
children are protected from gun violence, it is a uniquely 
American reality that students are shot on their way to and 
from school, in school, and at school-hosted events. Since the 
Columbine High School massacre in 1999, mass school shootings 
have been on the rise. A Nov. 30, 2021, shooting in which a 
student killed four people and injured seven at an Oxford, 
Michigan high school was reported to be the deadliest school 
shooting since May 2018.\5\ As the Committee discussed during a 
hearing in the 116th Congress, children in the United States 
face the devastating trauma of gun violence more frequently 
than anywhere else in the world.\6\ From Sandy Hook to 
Chicago,\7\ gun violence in and around schools is a national 
crisis that continues to claim the lives of our students and 
educators and deserves Congressional attention.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\Everytown For Gun Safety, Gun Violence in America (2022), 
https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/.
    \3\Children's Def. Fund, The State of America's Children, 2021, 
https://www.childrensdefense.org/state-of-americas-children/soac-2021-
gun-violence/ (last visited Mar. 29, 2022).
    \4\Id.
    \5\Livia Albeck-Ripka & Sophie Kasakove, What We Know About the 
Michigan High School Shooting, N.Y. Times, Dec. 19, 2021, https://
www.nytimes.com/article/oxford-school-shooting-michigan.html; Education 
Week, School Shootings in 2021: How Many and Where, Education Week, 
Mar. 01, 2021, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-
year-how-many-and-where/2021/03.
    \6\The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Education to 
Assist Students Impacted by Gun Violence and Other Adversities: Hearing 
Before the Subcomm. on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Educ. 
Of the House Comm. on Educ. & Lab. 116th Cong., (2019).
    \7\Gun violence in America is so prevalent that metonyms like Sandy 
Hook and Chicago are ingrained in our discourse, and this shorthand 
allows us to reference these events without describing them in detail. 
But we should not forget that in 2012, a 20-year-old armed with an 
assault rifle walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, 
Connecticut and murdered 26 people, 20 of them students between 6 and 7 
years old. In 2021, 57 school aged children died in Chicago due to gun 
violence, 16 of them in elementary or middle school. In 2020, 49 school 
aged children died in Chicago due to gun violence, 12 of them before 
they reached high school. Hartford Courant Staff, 28 Dead, Including 20 
Children After Shooting Rampage at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, 
Hartford Courant, Dec. 14, 2021; Emmanuel Camarillo & Nader Issa, 
Murders of students amid the pandemic strain school' ability to cope, 
heal, Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 20, 2021.
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    A concerted response is needed to solve the epidemic of gun 
violence in American schools. The need is particularly pressing 
as our nation's children continue to recover from trauma from 
the COVID-19 pandemic and return to in-person learning. 
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy organization 
founded in response to Sandy Hook which attempts to track 
gunfire incidents in schools, K-12 schools experienced a 
pronounced decrease in gunfire incidents during the COVID-19 
pandemic, followed by a rise to pre-pandemic levels as schools 
nationwide returned to in-person learning. From March through 
December 2020, a period of time in which most schools across 
the nation were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 
only 25 reported incidences of gun violence on K-12 school 
grounds.\8\ In contrast, the first half of the 2021-2022 school 
year, when most students nationwide returned to in-person 
learning, had the most reported incidences of gun violence on 
school grounds in recent history.\9\ Between August 1 and 
December 31, 2021, Everytown counted 123 instances of gun 
violence on K-12 school grounds--nearly four times the previous 
average for that time period.\10\
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    \8\Everytown for Gun Safety, Gunfire on School Grounds in the 
United States, (March 29, 2022, 4:08 PM), https://
maps.everytownresearch.org/gunfire-in-school/#ns.
    \9\Id.
    \10\Id.
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    However, there is conflicting data on the number of gunfire 
incidents on school grounds throughout the pandemic. According 
to the publication Education Week, there were 10 school 
shootings in 2020, in contrast to 34 school shootings in 2021, 
24 of which occurred after August 1.\11\ This conflict itself 
illustrates the need for H.R. 5428. As there is no current 
uniform definition of school shooting, and data is collected 
and tallied in varied ways by different nongovernmental 
organizations, there is no consistent unassailable data source 
from which to develop policy. If policymakers do not have 
accurate statistical data about the nature of the problem of 
gun violence in schools, there is little chance of developing 
thoughtful solutions to the problem. The Committee believes 
H.R. 5428 is a small but crucial step in making sure that a 
federal response to gun violence in schools is evidence-based 
instead of politically expedient.
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    \11\Education Week, supra note 5.
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    Policymakers can either commit to solving problems or use 
them to advance partisan agendas. The Committee has deep 
concerns that the issue of gun violence in schools is 
especially susceptible to politicization. When a mass school 
shooting occurs, it dominates news cycles and drives rash 
policy. And while no one disagrees that these events deserve 
attention, mass shootings often overshadow the daily incidents 
of gun violence that occur in and around schools throughout 
America. As Kristen Harper, Vice President for Public Policy 
and Engagement for Child Trends, said during the Committee's 
February 16, 2022 hearing on promoting a healthier, more 
supportive school environment, ``the pattern of providing 
support to schools only after tragedy undermines the work [as] 
schools need consistent support so that they have the resources 
they need to focus on services and relationships so that 
tragedies do not happen.''\12\ Until we have comprehensive data 
on gun violence in America as proposed in H.R. 5428, we are 
destined to lurch from one mass casualty event to another, 
resulting in the politicization of the issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\Serving All Students: Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive 
School Environment: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Early Childhood, 
Elementary & Secondary Educ. of the H. Comm. on Educ. & Lab., 117th 
Cong. (2022).
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    Regrettably, the Committee saw the tragedy of school 
shootings succumb to political machinations. In the wake of the 
school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 
Parkland, FL on February 14, 2018, which took 17 lives,\13\ 
former President Trump announced the establishment of the 
Federal Commission on School Safety (Commission).\14\ The 
Commission was charged to make policy recommendations on many 
issues surrounding school safety and violence, except, 
puzzlingly, for the role of guns in gun violence.\15\ Instead, 
the Commission focused considerable attention on the Obama 
Administration's 2014 School Discipline guidance package, which 
was issued to help schools understand their obligations to 
administer discipline in schools without discriminating against 
students on the basis of race, color, or national origin, as 
required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or 
adversely effecting school safety.\16\ Almost immediately after 
the shooting at Parkland, some Congressional Republicans 
wrongly placed blame on the guidance by questioning whether the 
shooter evaded police identification as a threat because his 
school did not appropriately discipline him. This political 
approach ran counter to that of the Obama-era discipline 
guidance package.\17\ At the Commission's recommendation, then-
U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded 
the School Discipline guidance package without any evidence 
that the implementation of the guidance caused or contributed 
to mass school shootings.\18\
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    \13\Laurel Wamsley & Richard Gonzales, 17 People Died in the 
Parkland Shooting. Here Are Their Names, NPR Feb. 15, 2018, https://
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/15/586095587/17-people-died-in-
the-parkland-shooting-here-are-their-names.
    \14\The White House, Factsheet, President Donald J. Trump is Taking 
Immediate Actions to Secure Our Schools, Mar. 12, 2018 (Archived 
Location: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/
president-donald-j-trump-taking-immediate-actions-secure-schools/).
    \15\Id.
    \16\See U.S. Dept's of Educ. & Just., Joint ``Dear Colleague'' 
Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline 
(Jan. 8, 2014) https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/
colleague-201401-title-vi.html (archived, under review).
    \17\E.g., Erica Green, Trump Finds Unlikely Culprit in School 
Shootings: Obama Discipline Policies, N.Y. TIMES A10 (Mar. 14, 2018).
    \18\Fed. Comm'n on Sch. Safety, Final Report 72 (2018), https://
www2.ed.gov/documents/school-safety/school-safety-report.pdf; U.S. 
Dept's of Educ. & Just., Joint letter rescinding 2014 School Discipline 
Guidance Package (Dec. 21, 2018) https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/
list/ocr/letters/colleague-201812.pdf (archived, under review).
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    Statistical evidence of disparities in school suspension 
and exclusionary practices, which disproportionately impact 
students of color and students with disabilities, was a focal 
point of the rescinded guidance package.\19\ Contrary to the 
dubious research on school discipline disparities cited in the 
Commission's report, the 2014 guidance package laid out that 
these disparities are not a result of more frequent or serious 
infractions committed by students of color.\20\ Nor are 
discipline disparities a result of inherent, temperamental 
differences between Black and white children. A Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) report substantiated those 
disparate data points a month after the shooting at 
Parkland.\21\ Additionally, in a 2020 report on the 
characteristics of school shootings, GAO examined 318 school 
shootings over the 2009 10 to 2018-19 school years and found no 
empirical research linking school discipline practices with 
mass school shootings.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\U.S. Dept. of Educ., Guiding Principles, A Resource for 
Improving School Climate and Discipline (January 2014) https://
www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/guiding-principles.pdf 
(archived, under review).
    \20\Id.
    \21\The report found that Black students accounted for 15.5 percent 
of all public school students, but represented about 39 percent of 
students suspended from school--an overrepresentation of about 23 
percentage points. Differences in discipline were particularly large 
between Black and White students. Although there were approximately 
17.4 million more White students than Black students attending K-12 
public schools in 2013-14, nearly 176,000 more Black students than 
White students were suspended from school that school year. U.S. Gov't 
Accountability Off., GAO-18-258, K-12 EDUCATION: Discipline Disparities 
for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities (2018), 
https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258.
    \22\U.S. Gov't Accountability Off., GAO-20-455, K-12 EDUCATION: 
Characteristics of School Shootings (2020) https://www.gao.gov/assets/
gao-20-455.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Yet Committee Republicans used the markup of H.R. 5428 to 
insinuate once again some connection between certain school 
discipline practices and school shootings where none has been 
found. This insinuation was taken a step further in the 
amendment offered by Rep. Stefanik during the mark up of H.R. 
5428. The amendment required data collection and reporting on 
the implementation of bail reform, the presence of school 
resource officers at schools, and the implementation of 
alternative discipline practices in districts that have 
experienced a school shooting. It should be underscored that 
bail reform is significantly beyond the scope of the 
Committee's jurisdiction. Furthermore, research shows that 
while school resource officers do effectively reduce some forms 
of violence in schools, they do not prevent school shootings or 
gun-related incidents.\23\ And the suggestion that alternative 
discipline practices may be related to school shootings runs 
counter to the GAO findings and are not founded upon evidence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\Montserrat Avila Acosta et al., The Thin Blue Line in Schools: 
New Evidence on School-Based Policing Across the U.S. 3 (Annenberg 
Inst. at Brown U. EdWorking Paper No. 21-476), https://
www.edworkingpapers.com/sites/default/files/ai21-476.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Committee hopes that by providing a clear definition as 
to what a school shooting is, H.R. 5428 will paint a fuller 
picture of the issue of gun violence in schools. While tragic 
mass shootings grip the national conscience and spur 
policymaking, experts have told us these mass shootings are 
outliers compared to the ongoing gun violence in schools, 
around school grounds, and in communities. Community gun 
violence is an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that inflicts 
trauma and has ripple effects in children's lives, from their 
school attendance, academic achievement, psychological 
development, and even their lifetime earnings.\24\ The 
Committee notes that mass shootings will continue to receive 
media attention and outsized focus, but it hopes that data 
collection required by H.R. 5428 will paint an equally 
compelling picture of the persistent trauma caused by gun 
violence experienced in too many schools around the country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \24\The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Education to 
Assist Students Impacted by Gun Violence and Other Adversities: Hearing 
Before the Subcomm. on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Educ. 
Of the House Comm. on Educ. & Lab. 116th Cong., (2019) (testimony of 
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Surgeon General, State of California).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While H.R. 5428 is focused on gun violence in schools and 
surrounding communities, Committee Republicans chose to focus 
their attention on school choice. This was exemplified most by 
an amendment during markup that sought to use school shootings 
as a platform for advancing school privatization. The Allen 
amendment to H.R. 5428 proposed a study on the effect of school 
safety on school choice, including whether increased school 
choice increases perceptions of school safety. Given that over 
91 percent of students in America attend public schools,\25\ 
the infatuation with school privatization and choice undermines 
the Committee's efforts to promote safer school environments 
for all students. A study of school choice and the perceptions 
of school safety is especially troubling given the link between 
abstract choice policies and school segregation. In a recent 
report on school segregation, the UCLA Civil Rights Project 
indicated that ``[s]chool choice plans without equity policies 
and strategies often end up with the best-educated and 
connected families getting the best choices, actually 
increasing inequality. All school choice programs need 
voluntary goals, policies, and practices that foster diversity 
and integration.''\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25 \Approximately 49.3 million of the 54 million PK-12 students in 
the United States attend public schools. See Institute of Education 
Sciences, Fast Facts Back-to-School Statistics (2021), https://
nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12-enrollment.
    \26\Erica Frankenberg, et al. Harming Our Common Future: America's 
Segregated Schools 65 Years after Brown, 37 May 2019, 
www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/
integration-and-diversity/harming-our-common-future-americas-
segregated-schools-65-years-after-brown/Brown-65-050919v4-final.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Instead of playing politics when these tragedies occur, 
Congress should follow the evidence offered by the experts and 
act to remedy these preventable harms. H.R. 5428 is a small but 
crucial step in that direction of following the evidence. 
Without accurate, comparable data over incidents and years, and 
without uniform definitions for school shooting and mass school 
shooting, we will not be properly equipped to make sound policy 
choices. Thousands of students all over the country marched in 
the streets to ask policymakers to pass evidence-based 
solutions to shield them from gun violence.\27\ Parkland 
survivor and student activist Emma Gonzalez would not have 
called on students to ``fight for your lives before it's 
somebody else's job'' if ``thoughts and prayers''' extended 
through floor speeches were enough to be responsive to the 
need.\28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \27\Rebecca Shabad et al., At March for Our Lives, survivors lead 
hundreds of thousands in call for change, MSNBC, (Mar. 24, 2018) 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/march-our-lives-draws-hundreds-
thousands-washington-around-nation-n859716.
    \28\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Unfortunately, Committee Republicans' proposed amendment in 
the nature of a substitute to H.R. 5428 aimed to strike the 
definitions of ``school shooting'' and ``mass shooting'' from 
the bill and require the Department of Education to consult 
with the Department of Homeland Security in collecting and 
publishing data on school safety. While the amendment would 
codify the current report on Indicators of School Crime and 
Safety issued by the National Center for Education Statistics, 
it would strike the requirement to collect additional data 
elements on school shootings, defeating the purpose of the 
underlying bill to collect more granular, comparable data on 
school shootings and mass school shootings.
    It is the Committee's hope that just as a hard look at ED's 
data on racial discipline disparities drove evidenced-based 
policy change, federally-recognized data collection on school 
shootings will help the country better understand the pervasive 
problem of gun violence in schools and in turn spur policy 
change. Such data will illuminate the daily gun-related 
violence incidents that occur before and after school, on the 
way to or from school, at school-related events and oftentimes 
not committed by students, in communities plagued by inequities 
and trauma which are currently invisible. All current data 
suggest these types of shootings are actually more prevalent 
than mass shootings but receive little attention.\29\ 
Collecting data brings to the forefront what could be otherwise 
ignored.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \29\GAO-20-455 at 23.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    H.R. 5428 also directs ED, in consultation with DOJ and 
HHS, to annually report on indicators of school safety for 
school shootings that occur. This includes statistics on school 
shootings, such as the number of shootings, the number of 
people killed, whether a shooting was ruled an accident, 
demographics of shooters and victims, the motivation of 
shooters, types of firearms and ammunition used, how the 
firearm was acquired, the state of origin of the firearm, and 
more. Crucially, H.R. 5428 would also direct ED to collect data 
regarding school response plans to address trauma resulting 
from school shootings, including, but not limited to, 
coordination with school-based counselors and other school 
mental health professionals and appropriate community partners/
organizations, such as community action programs or agencies. 
To ground this work in education, it is the Committee's intent 
that local school officials use other relevant sources of pre-
existing data to evaluate post-shooting effects on school 
communities, such as academic achievement, student and teacher 
absenteeism, and indicators of school climate such as 
discipline and crime statistics data. By shining a light on how 
gun violence in schools actually affects the education of 
students in those schools, the Committee expects this robust 
data collection to paint a broader, more accurate picture of 
what gun violence in American schools looks like, as well as 
how American schools have responded to the trauma resulting 
from gun violence, in the hope of providing Congress with 
information necessary to enact meaningful policy to reduce it.
    The Committee understands that ED may need to take on 
additional work, in consultation with DOJ and HHS, to stand up 
new processes or structures for the robust data collection 
required under H.R. 5428. Yet the fact such work is not 
currently being done should not serve as a deterrent to 
accomplishing it. To the extent that new processes or 
structures require additional resources, these can and should 
be considered during the regular budget and appropriations 
process. In the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Omnibus Appropriations 
package, the Institute of Education Sciences received $737 
million, aligned with IES' FY22 budget request of $737.4 
million and an increase of $94 million over the FY21 enacted 
level.\30\ Furthermore, House Democrats have made significant 
investments in IES through both the Coronavirus Response and 
Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) and the American 
Rescue Plan (ARP), providing IES with an additional $28 million 
in pandemic related funding through CRRSA and $100 million 
through ARP.\31\ House Republicans supported supplemental funds 
in FY21 for IES only when such funds were attached to an 
omnibus bill to prevent a government shutdown; no House 
Republicans supported the ARP.\32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \30\Joint Explanatory Statement of Division H, Part 2 at 159, 
accompanying H.R. 2471 (Pub. L. No. 117-103, 136 Stat. 49) (Mar. 15, 
2022) https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20220307/BILLS-117RCP35-JES-
DIVISION-H_Part2.pdf.
    \31\Pub. L. No. 116-260, 134 Stat. 1938 (2020); Pub. L. No. 117-2, 
135 Stat. 28 (2021).
    \32\167 Cong. Rec. No. 45, H1285-86 (House of Reps. Roll Call Vote 
72 on H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan, P.L. 117-2, which contained 
additional funding for IES); see 166 Cong. Rec. No. 171, H5434-35 
(House of Reps. Roll Call Vote 214 on H.R. 925, The Heroes Act, which 
contained additional funding for IES specifically for NAEP, and other 
coronavirus relief measures, and received no Republican votes); but see 
166 Cong. Rec. No. 171, H 7314 (House of Reps. Roll Call Vote 251 on 
agreement to Senate amendment of H.R. 133, Consolidated Appropriations 
Act FY2021, which contained supplemental IES funding in Division M--
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, which 
passed with support of two-thirds of the Republican Conference).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Committee believes the data collection required under 
H.R. 5428 would help Congress address not only mass school 
shootings but also violence in our most underserved 
communities. Conflicts are rarely confined to just the school 
or just the community, so data on school shootings will 
illuminate community violence issues as well, an important 
benefit to H.R. 5428's data collection. As Rep. McBath said 
during the Committee's ``Serving All Students'' hearing this 
year, ``this is a preventable crisis that we cannot afford to 
ignore any longer . . . it's critical that we take steps to 
address the epidemic of gun violence and school shootings that 
continue to plague our country every single day.''\33\ H.R. 
5428 will provide data which will help Congress take a first 
step in considering effective policy solutions to the 
nationwide epidemic of gun violence in schools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \33\Serving All Students: Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive 
School Environment: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Early Childhood, 
Elementary & Secondary Educ. of the H. Comm. on Educ. & Lab., 117th 
Cong. (2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      Section-by-Section Analysis


Sec. 1. Short title

    This section states that the title of the bill the ``School 
Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act.''

Sec. 2. Definitions

    This section defines the terms ``firearm'' and ammunition'' 
as such terms are defined in criminal code. It also defines the 
term ``large capacity ammunition feeding device'' as such term 
was defined in criminal code prior to the expiration of the 
assault weapons ban. The section defines the term ``school'' to 
be inclusive of educational settings from early childhood 
through post-secondary education. It creates new definitions 
for the terms ``mass shooting'' and ``school shooting.''

Sec. 3. Annual report on indicators of school crime and safety

    Requires the Secretary of Education, in consultation with 
the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, to annually publish a report on indicators of school 
crime and safety. Such report is already produced under 
existing authority of the National Center for Education 
Statistics, so the effect of this section is to require future 
reports to include statistics on school shootings, historic 
statistics on school shootings, and data on safety and 
prevention, including active shooter response plans and trauma 
response plans.

                       Explanation of Amendments

    The Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute are explained 
in the descriptive portions of this report.

              Application of Law to the Legislative Branch

    H.R. 5428 does not apply to terms and conditions of 
employment or to access to public services or accommodations 
within the legislative branch.

                       Unfunded Mandate Statement

    The Committee adopts as its own the estimate of federal 
mandates regarding H.R. 5428, as amended, prepared by the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

                           Earmark Statement

    In accordance with clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, H.R. 5428 does not contain any 
congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff 
benefits as described in clauses 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule 
XXI.

                            Roll Call Votes

    In compliance with clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the 
following roll call votes occurred during the Committee's 
consideration of H.R. 5428:

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

             Statement of Performance Goals and Objectives

    Pursuant to clause (3)(c) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the goals of H.R. 5428 are to direct 
the Secretary of Education to collect and report data relevant 
to school shootings.

                    Duplication of Federal Programs

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee states that no 
provision of H.R. 5428 establishes or reauthorizes a program of 
the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another 
federal program, a program that was included in any report from 
the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant to 
section 21 of Public Law 111-139, or a program related to a 
program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal 
Domestic Assistance.

                                Hearings

    For the purposes of Section 2(r) of H. Res. 8 for the 117th 
Congress, the Committee held a legislative hearing entitled 
``Serving All Students: Promoting a Healthier, More Supportive 
School Environment''. The hearing examined outdated discipline 
practices and highlighted ways schools can implement evidence-
based approaches to creating healthy school environments that 
support students' social, emotional, and academic development. 
During the hearing, members and witnesses also discussed the 
trauma of gun violence and the role of common-sense gun reform 
as part of the solution to create supportive and healthy 
schools. The Committee heard testimony from: Ms. Kristen 
Harper, Vice President for Public Policy and Engagement, Child 
Trends; Mr. Guy Stephens, Founder and Executive Director, 
Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint; Ms. Morgan Craven, 
J.D., National Director of Policy, Advocacy and Community 
Engagement, Intercultural Development Research Association; and 
Mr. Max Eden, Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute.

  Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
the Committee's oversight findings and recommendations are 
reflected in the descriptive portions of this report.

               New Budget Authority and CBO Cost Estimate

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and pursuant to clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for 
H.R. 5428 from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                    Washington, DC, April 27, 2022.
Hon. Robert C. (Bobby) Scott,
Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 5428, the School 
Shooting Safety and Preparedness Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Garrett 
Quenneville.
            Sincerely,
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    H.R. 5428 would require the Secretary of Education, in 
coordination with the Attorney General and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, to publish an annual report on 
school crime and safety, including statistics on school 
shootings.
    Based on the cost to prepare similar reports, CBO estimates 
that it would cost $1 million over the 2022-2026 period to 
collect data and write the annual reports; any spending would 
be subject to the availability of appropriated amounts.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Garrett 
Quenneville. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Director for Budget Analysis.

                        Committee Cost Estimate

    Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison of the 
costs that would be incurred in carrying out H.R. 5428. 
However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that rule provides that this 
requirement does not apply when the committee has included in 
its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, H.R. 5428, as reported, are shown as follows:

                             MINORITY VIEWS

    Every Republican Member on this Committee believes that 
students should be safe at school and that any child dealing 
with trauma should receive the services necessary to heal. Yet 
instead of debating this serious topic of school safety, the 
majority brought forward a bill about reporting requirements 
and gun politics. This partisan legislation, disguised as a 
data collection bill, was pushed through the Committee this 
Congress without a single hearing--denying Members an 
opportunity to discuss the bill's substance. As was noted last 
Congress when a substantially similar bill was marked up, the 
Democrats' own panelist noted at a school safety forum in March 
2018 that ``gun safety is not in the purview of this committee. 
. . .''\1\ The sole hearing the Committee held on trauma last 
Congress did not prove there is a need for detailed firearm 
data beyond what is already available.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Cornell, Dewey G., University of Virginia, PhD, written 
statement for the ``Forum on School Safety,'' hosted by Committee 
Democrats and Democratic Leadership, House Committee on Education and 
the Workforce, March 20, 2018, Page 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    School violence is a serious topic that deserves serious 
solutions. The latest Indicator report demonstrates one clear 
concern: too many students feel unsafe at school.\2\ Yet, 
Democrats seem content to collect data rather than offer 
students an opportunity to attend a school where they feel 
safe. School choice would help these students escape that fear 
and focus on learning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2021/2021092.pdf, highlights section.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Safety concerns due to firearms are also not the only 
threat students face in schools, as a plethora of available and 
reported studies show. The hearing on examining trauma-informed 
practices in education, held last Congress,\3\ highlighted that 
America's students experience trauma in a variety of ways. 
Committee Republicans worked to improve the Majority's flawed 
bill by offering an amendment that would better provide 
policymakers, school leaders, families, and other members of 
the public with accurate information on school crime and safety 
from the relevant federal agencies already collecting this 
data. The Republican amendment would have also provided school 
officials with some evidence-based best practices for how to 
address issues that may arise on school campuses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\House Education and Labor Committee Subcommittee on Early 
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing titled, The 
Importance of Trauma-informed Practices in Education to Assist Students 
Impacted by Gun Violence and Other Adversities, September 11, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    H.R. 5428 does not improve upon the deficiencies that were 
present in the bill from last Congress. In fact, it is not 
clear what this legislation intends to accomplish. Therefore, 
Committee Republicans are left to conclude that Democrats 
introduced this bill merely to make a political point instead 
of addressing the safety of students at school. Much of the 
data required under this legislation is already collected by 
the relevant agencies. Further, while current data indicates 
that there are multiple other challenges to school safety 
besides school shootings, the new data points required in H.R. 
5428 focus solely on firearms. The bill does not empower 
parents, school leaders, and teachers to address the problems 
students are facing.
    In addition to concerns about the relevance of some of the 
data required for the report, we have concerns about the burden 
it would place on schools to report the data and on NCES to 
collect the data. Additionally, requiring NCES to go back and 
revise previously published reports is inappropriate and overly 
demanding. The task is also cost prohibitive when weighed 
against the relative value of the data. All of this suggests 
that this legislation does not appear to be about school safety 
but about gun politics.

                         CONFUSION IN THE FIELD

    In expanding current definitions and creating new 
definitions, Democrats are developing a new collection of 
information that will likely cause confusion in the broader 
field of research and will lead to further debates without the 
ability to act on the information. For example, creating a new 
definition of ``mass shooting'' or ``school shooting'' is not 
simple. Understanding how those or comparable terms are used in 
other data collections is important to ensure policymakers can 
crosscheck the data for consistency in both data sets. 
Otherwise, the same incident could be included in two different 
collections but not reported consistently because of differing 
definitions. When one data collection reports four victims of a 
mass shooting, including the shooter, but another data 
collection includes the same incident but reports only three 
victims because it does not count the shooter, the data gets 
muddled and is unreliable. Another example of this confusion is 
the bill's definition of ``school shooting'' that includes an 
event or occurrence that occurred on school grounds even if 
before or after school hours, which could capture incidents 
wholly separate from the school or school system. While that 
definition brings in incidents that occurred while a victim was 
traveling to or from a regular session at school, the data 
could also include a random act of violence disconnected from 
the school or the school system. Haphazardly redefining terms 
as this bill does leads to inconsistent data that does not meet 
experts', schools', parents', and policymakers' needs. As a 
result of this inconsistent data, school and community leaders 
could establish inappropriate interventions or, worse, could 
provide parents or students with a false sense of security or 
insecurity.

                       DATA COLLECTION CHALLENGES

    While the issue of creating new definitions for data 
collection purposes is serious, the scope of the data 
collection is equally problematic. When the data collection 
required is focused just on gun crimes and does not put equal 
focus on other crimes, such as stabbings or sexual assault, the 
data will be skewed to present an inaccurate picture of what is 
happening in schools. The overemphasis on gun violence is 
detrimental to solving the variety of problems impacting school 
safety. In this bill, the Democrats create a significant 
requirement for reporting on firearms but completely ignore 
sexual assaults, stabbings, bullying, harassment, or assaults.
    To remedy this oversight, the Republican substitute 
amendment required experts to review available data on all 
challenges to school safety and to determine whether it 
provided an accurate picture of what is happening in schools. 
Further, if the available data did not accurately show what is 
happening in schools, then the amendment directs researchers to 
identify what is needed. Importantly though, it does not 
unilaterally authorize any new data collection. Instead of 
being singularly focused on guns, the Republican substitute 
amendment was broadly focused on challenges to school safety in 
every form.
    Moving beyond the concerns with the data specific elements 
of the bill, the legislation has several flaws in the execution 
of the data expected to be collected. Despite noting the 
concerns with the legislation last Congress, it appears the 
Democrats have either ignored or once again did not get any 
technical assistance from the Department of Education (the 
Department) on this legislation. Despite the quick markup after 
notice on this bill, Committee Republicans asked for technical 
assistance from the Department and were informed of multiple 
concerns in that feedback. Some issues that were raised by the 
Department and others include that the Department cannot 
reliably determine how guns were stored or the motivation of 
the shooter. The Department also does not have access to the 
details of how the shooter was stopped beyond reading public 
media accounts or accessing police records. Requiring the 
Department to collect data they do not currently have, to 
access police records, and to create new definitions are some 
of the areas where simple assistance from experts could have 
improved this bill.
    The idea of doing retroactive collection of all the data on 
past school shootings is also concerning, even if the 
information required could be easily collected every year 
moving forward. If the Majority had engaged in bipartisan 
conversations, the Committee could have discussed the best way 
to take a historical look at the data. Instead of approaching 
this issue with the diligence it deserves, the Democrats moved 
forward with a requirement to collect data for shootings that 
occurred ``before the date of the enactment of the Act,'' 
meaning going back to some unspecified starting date trying to 
gather all the objective and subjective data required under the 
law. This type of information gathering poses concerns about 
data reliability and could cause additional trauma to the 
victims of the past events.

                          FLAWED DATA ELEMENTS

    It is also important to point out the flawed firearm-
specific data elements included in the Democrats' bill. While 
some of this data may be useful to law enforcement as they 
track down suspects, much of it is useless in effecting either 
public policy or school safety. It is a further question 
whether even the more helpful data is relevant and useful to 
school personnel looking to craft school safety policies and 
procedures. For instance, the bill collects data on the weapon 
and ammunition used in a school shooting. This data could help 
police track down a suspect or prevent a future crime; however, 
it is not likely to help a principal or school board develop or 
enforce any particular safety policy because safety plans focus 
on preventing incidents, not particular manufacturers' 
products. The bill also tracks data concerning how a gun was 
purchased--whether it was from a licensed gun dealer or an 
unlicensed sale. Again, this may help law enforcement track 
down a suspect, or even help policymakers with jurisdiction 
over criminal activity to have a better understanding of where 
problems may exist in the purchase pipeline, but it does not 
help educators keep a school safe. Knowing how a gun was stored 
or if the original purchaser of the firearm was not the shooter 
but the firearm was obtained from the shooter's home may be of 
interest to the police or the state, but it is not clear how 
this information would be useful to school personnel. Other 
details which the bill sets out to measure, such as motivation 
of shooters and real or perceived bias, would be useful to 
school leaders and parents looking to improve school safety, 
but are too subjective to be measured in a data driven report.
    The Democrats require the report to include the 
demographics of each victim, the demographics of the shooters, 
and the relationship to the school of each shooter. This is 
likely helpful information to schools and policymakers to 
understand who has been involved in school shootings, but 
policymakers should be wary of drawing hard conclusions about 
who is vulnerable to a possible incident in the future based on 
such data. As we already know from the Averting Targeted School 
Violence report issued by the U.S. Secret Service in 2021, 
there is no profile of a student attacker nor is there a 
profile for the type of school that has been targeted.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2021-
03/USSS%20Averting%20Targeted%20School%20Violence.2021.03.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                            WE HAVE THE DATA

    We already have the data showing that too many of our 
schools are unsafe. As the 2021 indicator report says, 
``violent deaths and shootings at schools are rare but tragic 
events . . . Based on the most recent datathere were a total of 
56 school-associated violent deaths in the 17-18 school year.'' 
This included 46 homicides, nine suicides, and one legal 
intervention death. 35 of those deaths and eight of the 
suicides were of school-age youth.\5\ This is absolutely 
heartbreaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2021/2021092.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The same 2021 report gives us historical data, telling us 
the number of school shootings going back to the 2000-01 school 
year as well as the number of incidents per year that led to 
injuries and the number that resulted in deaths. Turning to the 
CDC's school associated violent death study, we know that 
homicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 
5-18. We also know that less that 2 percent of these homicides 
occur on school grounds, on the way to and from school, or at 
or on the way to and from a school-sponsored event.\6\ Given 
that these statistics are known, it is odd to see that a 
significant part of the bill focuses on gathering data to 
report these same facts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/
schoolviolence/SAVD.html#::text=
Homicide%20is%20the%20second%20leading,from%20a%20school%2Dsponsored%20e
vent.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Other reports on school safety, for example the School 
Health Policies and Practices Report showed the following about 
surveyed schools:
           75.9 percent of elementary schools use 
        security cameras and 85.5 of high schools do the same;
           5.6 percent of elementary schools require 
        uniforms and 77.2 percent of elementary schools require 
        the enforcement of some sort of dress code;
           almost the same percentage of elementary and 
        high schools require monitoring on campus;
           nearly all school districts have specific 
        anti-bullying policies; and
           71.8 percent of the districts have utilized 
        material from the Department of Education for crisis 
        preparedness and 94.6 percent of them have a 
        comprehensive district-level crisis plan.
    This is already reported information, available to school 
leaders and policy officials, yet this bill also requires NCES 
to collect information on security measures and communications 
plans. This is duplicative work for no value to those on the 
ground: school leaders, parents, local officials, and medical 
professionals.
    It is clear there is a lot of information available 
regarding safety in schools and specific school safety 
incidents. There are reports that have synthesized available 
data and done other research to produce reports to help school 
leaders prevent or avert school violence. School leaders, law 
enforcement, parents, medical professionals already have the 
needed to help protect student safety. That data is not skewed 
to focus solely on firearms but rather on all challenges to 
student safety, so it is fundamentally more helpful to 
politicians, law enforcement, and school personnel than the 
data gathered by the Democrats unnecessary and tunnel-vision 
bill.

                    REJECTED REPUBLICANS AMENDMENTS

Republican Substitute
    The Republican substitute amendment, offered by Rep. 
Burgess Owens (R-UT), embraced ensuring that this important 
safety information continues to be provided by the Department. 
The amendment sought to codify an existing annual, informative 
report on school crime and safety indicators and provided an 
opportunity for subject matter experts to determine if the 
right data is available and being used. This analysis would 
ensure that the report would be helpful for school officials, 
parents, and policymakers to determine what is actually 
happening in schools. It would also help inform decisions of 
school administrators about the actions that best protect their 
students. The amendment also required the Department, in 
consultation with the departments of Justice, Homeland 
Security, and Health and Human Services, to review the 
available data on safety and prevention measures and, if 
sufficient evidence exists, to make recommendations about 
measures in schools that could mitigate or prevent crime and 
safety incidents. This is the better way to help school 
leaders, communities, students, and families.
School Choice
    Democrats want to conduct study after study and report on 
problems, regardless of how many times and in how many other 
ways those problems are being studied and reported on. 
Tragically, though, they steadfastly refuse to offer children 
trapped in unsafe schools a solution. Republicans, on the other 
hand, want solutions. Unfortunately, an amendment that would 
actually offer children an escape hatch is not germane to this 
bill, which goes to highlight one of the problems with the 
Democrats' bill.
    School choice is a solution that works and is a solution 
most parents support.\7\ The Urban Institute studied the tax 
credit scholarship program in Florida, the country's largest 
school choice program. Its research found that students who 
enroll in private schools through the program were more likely 
to attend and graduate college than their public-school peers, 
and that the positive effects of the program increased with the 
number of years of participation.\8\ Finally, and of particular 
relevance in this legislation, school choice can increase 
public safety and families' perception of safety. Research into 
Milwaukee's citywide voucher program found that students who 
participated in that program through 12th grade committed fewer 
crimes than their publicschool peers.\9\ Other research has 
consistently shown that student safety is a key motivator for 
parents who place their children in school choice programs.\10\ 
Rep. Rick Allen (R-AL) offered a simple amendment to look at 
the impact of school safety regarding school choice. 
Unfortunately, Rep. Allen's amendment was rejected along party 
lines.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\https://www.federationforchildren.org/new-poll-school-choice-
support-at-all-time-high/.
    \8\https://www.urban.org/research/publication/effects-florida-tax-
credit-scholarship-program-college-enrollment-and-graduation.
    \9\http://www.uaedreform.org/downloads/2016/03/the-school-choice-
voucher-a-get-out-of-jail-card.pdf.
    \10\https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/here-are-10-
reasons-school-choice-winning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crime Wave
    Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) offered an amendment to add 
relevant data elements to the required report. Violent crime 
has escalated in communities across the country. There has been 
a significant increase in homicides and aggravated assaults 
throughout the United States. If the Committee is concerned 
about children's safety, the focus should be on policies that 
help deter and punish crime instead of on revising a 
statistical report. The criminal justice system should include 
a robust police force that faithfully enforces the laws of the 
land without bias and with fairness for all. It should include 
a justice system that includes vigorous prosecution of criminal 
activity, especially violent activity. Instead, we have people 
advocating to defund the police--including school resource 
officers--to let violent criminals out of jail, and to not 
prosecute alleged criminals for their crimes. A statistical 
report on school shootings will not keep our children safe. 
Rep. Stefanik's amendment was rejected along party lines.

                               CONCLUSION

    Once again, the Majority passed a partisan bill that does 
little to provide educators or school staff with the tools to 
help traumatized students. Instead of using the markup to 
develop real solutions to address school safety, the Democrats 
trotted out a flawed bill that made no improvements to the text 
that was marked up last Congress. When the Democrats showcase a 
real willingness to address these issues constructively, 
Republicans remain ready to engage in a serious conversation on 
school safety.

                                   Virginia Foxx,
                                           Ranking Member.
                                   Joe Wilson.
                                   Glenn ``GT'' Thompson.
                                   Tim Walberg.
                                   Glenn Grothman.
                                   Elise M. Stefanik.
                                   Rick W. Allen.
                                   Jim Banks.
                                   James Comer.
                                   Russ Fulcher.
                                   Fred Keller.
                                   Mariannette Miller Meeks, M.D.
                                   Burgess Owens.
                                   Lisa C. McClain.
                                   Mary E. Miller.
                                   Scott Fitzgerald.
                                   Madison Cawthorn.
                                   Julia Letlow.
                                   Chris Jacobs.

                                  [all]