Text of US SB 986 (2025)

II 119TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 986 To address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2025 Mr. KAINE (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DUR- BIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLO- BUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. PETERS, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WARNER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MURPHY) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Schools Improve- 4 ment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 •S 986 IS (1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 1 fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 2 physical and psychological health of its victims and 3 create conditions that negatively affect learning, 4 thereby undermining the ability of students to 5 achieve their full potential. 6 (2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 7 dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 8 underachievement. 9 (3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 10 behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 11 to learn and participate in educational opportunities 12 and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 13 include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida- 14 tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send- 15 ing insulting or offensive messages through elec- 16 tronic communications, such as internet sites, e- 17 mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes- 18 saging, telephone, or any other means. 19 (4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 20 harassment policies have an increased level of re- 21 porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul- 22 lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 23 frequency and number of such incidents. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 •S 986 IS (5) Students have been particularly singled out 1 for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac- 2 tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 3 disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 4 sex characteristics (including intersex traits), or reli- 5 gion, among other categories. 6 (6) Some young people experience a form of 7 bullying called relational aggression or psychological 8 bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 9 threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 10 their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac- 11 ceptance. 12 (7) Interventions to address bullying and har- 13 assment should incorporate evidence-based discipline 14 policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 15 Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and other re- 16 storative practices that can minimize suspensions, 17 expulsions, and other exclusionary and harmful dis- 18 cipline policies to ensure that students are not 19 ‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the juvenile justice sys- 20 tem. 21 (8) Perpetrators of bullying and harassment 22 often have a history of trauma or psychological dis- 23 tress, or have been bullied themselves. These stu- 24 dents, often discussed as ‘‘bully-victims’’, require ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 •S 986 IS ditional trauma-informed interventions and consider- 1 ation. 2 SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 5 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 7 ‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 8 ‘‘The purpose of this part is to address the problem 9 of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 10 elementary schools and secondary schools. 11 ‘‘SEC. 4702. ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES. 12 ‘‘(a) BULLYING.—In this part, the term ‘bullying’ 13 means conduct that adversely affects the ability of one or 14 more students to participate in or benefit from the school’s 15 educational programs or activities by placing a student in 16 fear of harm. 17 ‘‘(b) POLICIES.—A State that receives a grant under 18 this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 19 State to carry out the following: 20 ‘‘(1) Establish policies that prevent and prohibit 21 conduct, including bullying and harassment, that— 22 ‘‘(A) limits a student’s ability to partici- 23 pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 •S 986 IS of a public school or local educational agency; 1 or 2 ‘‘(B) creates a hostile or abusive edu- 3 cational environment, adversely affecting a stu- 4 dent’s education, at a program or activity of a 5 public school or local educational agency, in- 6 cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 7 aggression or intimidation. 8 ‘‘(2) The policies required under paragraph (1) 9 shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 10 conduct based on— 11 ‘‘(A) a student’s actual or perceived race, 12 color, national origin, sex (including sexual ori- 13 entation, gender identity, and sex characteris- 14 tics (including intersex traits)), disability, or re- 15 ligion; 16 ‘‘(B) the actual or perceived race, color, 17 national origin, sex (including sexual orienta- 18 tion, gender identity, and sex characteristics 19 (including intersex traits)), disability, or reli- 20 gion of a person with whom a student associ- 21 ates or has associated; or 22 ‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris- 23 tics that may be defined by the State or local 24 educational agency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6 •S 986 IS ‘‘(3) Provide— 1 ‘‘(A) annual notice to students, parents, 2 and educational professionals describing the full 3 range of prohibited conduct contained in such 4 local educational agency’s discipline policies; 5 and 6 ‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 7 parents to register complaints regarding the 8 prohibited conduct contained in such local edu- 9 cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 10 ‘‘(i) the name of the local educational 11 agency officials who are designated as re- 12 sponsible for receiving such complaints; 13 and 14 ‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu- 15 cational agency will establish in the resolu- 16 tion of such complaints. 17 ‘‘(4) Collect annual incidence and frequency of 18 incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 19 policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 20 level that are accurate and complete and publicly re- 21 port such data at the school level and local edu- 22 cational agency level. The local educational agency 23 shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 24 such conduct are not identifiable. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7 •S 986 IS ‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 1 ‘‘The chief executive officer of a State that receives 2 a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu- 3 cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec- 4 retary— 5 ‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu- 6 cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 7 4702(b)(4); and 8 ‘‘(2) describing the State’s plans for supporting 9 local educational agency efforts to address the con- 10 duct prohibited by the policies described in section 11 4702(b)(1). 12 ‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 13 ‘‘(a) BIENNIAL EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 14 conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 15 and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen- 16 tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa- 17 tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ- 18 ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 19 the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef- 20 fective parent involvement and training programs. 21 ‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION.—The Commissioner for 22 Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 23 are subject to independent review, to determine the inci- 24 dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 25 described in section 4702. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8 •S 986 IS ‘‘(c) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 1 2026, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 2 submit to the President and Congress a report on the find- 3 ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to- 4 gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 5 data submitted by the States under section 4703. 6 ‘‘SEC. 4705. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 7 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL AND STATE NONDISCRIMINATION 8 LAWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali- 9 date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand- 10 ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 11 Federal law or law of a State or political subdivision of 12 a State, including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 13 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 14 Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), section 15 504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 16 794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 17 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 18 part are in addition to those imposed by title VI of the 19 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title 20 IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 21 1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 22 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil- 23 ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9 •S 986 IS ‘‘(b) FREE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION LAWS.—Noth- 1 ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 2 regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 3 procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 4 laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 5 expression. 6 ‘‘SEC. 4706. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 7 ‘‘Nothing in this part shall be construed to prohibit 8 a State or local entity from enacting any law with respect 9 to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 10 that is not inconsistent with this part.’’. 11 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 12 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 13 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 14 to section 4644 the following: 15 ‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT ‘‘Sec. 4701. Purpose. ‘‘Sec. 4702. Anti-bullying policies. ‘‘Sec. 4703. State reports. ‘‘Sec. 4704. Evaluation. ‘‘Sec. 4705. Effect on other laws. ‘‘Sec. 4706. Rule of construction.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Mar 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS