Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2577 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2577
55 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish Regional School
66 Safety Development Centers to provide consultation for schools to develop
77 or improve a school safety plan based on evidence-based best practices,
88 and for other purposes.
99 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1010 APRIL1, 2025
1111 Mr. R
1212 UTHERFORD(for himself, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. TONYGONZALESof Texas,
1313 Mr. C
1414 ORREA, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mrs. HAYES) introduced the fol-
1515 lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Work-
1616 force
1717 A BILL
1818 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish
1919 Regional School Safety Development Centers to provide
2020 consultation for schools to develop or improve a school
2121 safety plan based on evidence-based best practices, and
2222 for other purposes.
2323 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2424 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2525 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2626 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preparing Leaders to 4
2727 Assess Needs for School Safety Act of 2025’’ or the 5
2828 ‘‘PLAN for School Safety Act of 2025’’. 6
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3232 SEC. 2. SCHOOL SAFETY DEVELOPMENT CENTER PRO-1
3333 GRAM. 2
3434 (a) I
3535 NGENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XXII of the 3
3636 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) 4
3737 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 5
3838 ‘‘SEC. 2220F. SCHOOL SAFETY DEVELOPMENT CENTER PRO-6
3939 GRAM. 7
4040 ‘‘(a) I
4141 NGENERAL.—The Director shall make awards, 8
4242 including grants or cooperative agreements, to eligible en-9
4343 tities to establish, improve, or maintain statewide or intra-10
4444 state Regional School Safety Development Centers 11
4545 (‘School Safety Development Centers’) for the purposes of 12
4646 providing customized consulting services to schools to de-13
4747 velop, improve, or implement the school’s individualized 14
4848 school safety plan. 15
4949 ‘‘(b) A
5050 WARDS.— 16
5151 ‘‘(1) A
5252 PPLICATION.—To seek an award under 17
5353 this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli-18
5454 cation to the Director at such time, in such manner, 19
5555 and containing such information as the Director 20
5656 may require. At minimum, any such application 21
5757 shall include evidence of the applicant’s expertise in 22
5858 comprehensive school safety and school climate, in-23
5959 cluding evidence-based violence prevention for stu-24
6060 dents and educators, suicide prevention, student 25
6161 mental health, and school security. 26
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6565 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In making awards under 1
6666 this section, the Director shall, as appropriate, give 2
6767 preference to eligible entities that have existing rela-3
6868 tionships with local schools, particularly those in 4
6969 rural, Tribal, or low-resourced communities, as ap-5
7070 plicable by the proposed geographical area, or minor-6
7171 ity-serving institutions described in sections 371(a) 7
7272 and 326(e)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 8
7373 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a) and 1063b(e)(1)). 9
7474 ‘‘(3) U
7575 SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall 10
7676 use an award received under this section to estab-11
7777 lish, improve, or maintain a School Safety Develop-12
7878 ment Center, which shall include each of the fol-13
7979 lowing: 14
8080 ‘‘(A) Developing communications materials 15
8181 for and disseminating to schools, educators, 16
8282 parents, legal guardians, and youth, and in-17
8383 creasing State-wide or intrastate regional public 18
8484 awareness of evidence-based research and best 19
8585 practices for school safety and student mental 20
8686 health. 21
8787 ‘‘(B) Conducting individualized consulta-22
8888 tions with schools to research and analyze a 23
8989 school’s existing school safety and student men-24
9090 tal health policies, or developing or improving, 25
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9494 in coordination with a school, a customized 1
9595 school safety and student mental health plan to 2
9696 fit the individualized, age- and developmentally- 3
9797 appropriate needs of such school community 4
9898 based on evidence-based best practices. 5
9999 ‘‘(C) Assisting schools in the implementa-6
100100 tion of their customized school safety and men-7
101101 tal health plan, including the following: 8
102102 ‘‘(i) Identification of Federal or State 9
103103 government funding for implementation of 10
104104 the plan, in whole or in part. 11
105105 ‘‘(ii) Provide training, resources, or 12
106106 technical assistance to assist schools in ap-13
107107 plying for such Federal or State govern-14
108108 ment funding. 15
109109 ‘‘(iii) Providing training, resources, 16
110110 and technical assistance to educate school 17
111111 staff and families regarding the policies 18
112112 and procedures of the plan. 19
113113 ‘‘(4) M
114114 ATCHING REQUIREMENT .—The Federal 20
115115 share of the cost of activities for which a grant or 21
116116 cooperative agreement is made to an eligible entity 22
117117 under this section may not exceed 95 percent of the 23
118118 total cost of such activities. 24
119119 ‘‘(c) A
120120 WARDADMINISTRATION.— 25
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124124 ‘‘(1) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .— 1
125125 The Director, in consultation with the Secretary of 2
126126 Education and the Youth Advisory Council (estab-3
127127 lished pursuant to paragraph (2)(C)), shall provide 4
128128 eligible entities receiving awards under this section, 5
129129 training and technical assistance on the following: 6
130130 ‘‘(A) Best practices for individualized con-7
131131 sulting with schools based on their unique needs 8
132132 for implementation in accordance with sub-9
133133 section (b)(3). 10
134134 ‘‘(B) Evidence-based practices and rec-11
135135 ommendations established under section 2220D 12
136136 that are presented in a clear and concise man-13
137137 ner for schools and the public. 14
138138 ‘‘(2) S
139139 UBJECT MATTER EXPERTS .— 15
140140 ‘‘(A) P
141141 ERSONNEL.—The Director shall 16
142142 hire additional personnel and contractors with 17
143143 expertise in school mental health and school ad-18
144144 ministration to provide additional subject mat-19
145145 ter expertise in implementing evidence-based 20
146146 programming within schools to carry out para-21
147147 graph (1). 22
148148 ‘‘(B) D
149149 ETAILEE.— 23
150150 ‘‘(i) I
151151 N GENERAL.—The Secretary of 24
152152 Education shall detail, on a reimbursable 25
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156156 basis, to the Agency an employee of the 1
157157 Department of Education to assist in the 2
158158 provision of the training and technical as-3
159159 sistance described in paragraph (1). 4
160160 ‘‘(ii) R
161161 EIMBURSEMENT.—The Director 5
162162 shall reimburse the Secretary of Education 6
163163 for any costs associated with the detailee 7
164164 under clause (i). 8
165165 ‘‘(C) Y
166166 OUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL .— 9
167167 ‘‘(i) E
168168 STABLISHMENT.—Not later 10
169169 than one year after the date of the enact-11
170170 ment of this section, the Director shall es-12
171171 tablish and convene a Youth Advisory 13
172172 Council for the purpose of providing joint 14
173173 advice on the implementation of this sec-15
174174 tion. 16
175175 ‘‘(ii) P
176176 ARTICIPATION.—The Youth Ad-17
177177 visory Council shall include participation 18
178178 from the following: 19
179179 ‘‘(I) Parents, academic experts, 20
180180 mental health professionals, and mem-21
181181 bers of civil society with respect to the 22
182182 prevention of violence in schools. 23
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186186 ‘‘(II) Youth representation, in-1
187187 cluding youth who have experienced 2
188188 school violence. 3
189189 ‘‘(d) R
190190 EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than two 4
191191 years after the date of the enactment of this section and 5
192192 annually thereafter, the Director shall submit to the Com-6
193193 mittee on Homeland Security, the Committee on the Judi-7
194194 ciary, the Committee on Education and Workforce, and 8
195195 the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-9
196196 resentatives and the Committee on Homeland Security 10
197197 and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Health, 11
198198 Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the Committee on 12
199199 Appropriations of the Senate a report on actions taken 13
200200 by the Director to implement this section, including infor-14
201201 mation relating to the following: 15
202202 ‘‘(1) The name, location, and number of eligible 16
203203 entities in each State receiving awards under this 17
204204 section. 18
205205 ‘‘(2) A comparative analysis of actions rec-19
206206 ommended in school safety plans by such eligible en-20
207207 tities through the School Safety Development Cen-21
208208 ters assisted through such awards. 22
209209 ‘‘(3) An assessment of the effectiveness of such 23
210210 School Safety Development Centers in assisting 24
211211 schools to develop and implement school safety 25
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215215 plans, as a means to avert violence, including self- 1
216216 harm, if applicable, and policy recommendations for 2
217217 improved effectiveness. 3
218218 ‘‘(e) R
219219 ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.— 4
220220 ‘‘(1) W
221221 AIVER OF REQUIREMENTS .—Nothing in 5
222222 this section may be construed to establish, satisfy, or 6
223223 waive any requirement under any of the following: 7
224224 ‘‘(A) Title II of the Americans With Dis-8
225225 abilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.). 9
226226 ‘‘(B) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 10
227227 U.S.C. 701 et seq.). 11
228228 ‘‘(C) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 12
229229 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). 13
230230 ‘‘(D) Title IX of the Education Amend-14
231231 ments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.). 15
232232 ‘‘(E) The Age Discrimination Act of 1975 16
233233 (42 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). 17
234234 ‘‘(F) The Family Educational Rights and 18
235235 Privacy Act of 1973 (20 U.S.C. 1232g). 19
236236 ‘‘(2) N
237237 O EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS .—Nothing in 20
238238 this section may be construed to preclude or con-21
239239 tradict any other provision of law authorizing train-22
240240 ing in the use of firearms. 23
241241 ‘‘(f) A
242242 UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 24
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246246 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this section, 1
247247 there are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 2
248248 annually from fiscal years 2026 through 2030. 3
249249 ‘‘(2) R
250250 ESTRICTION ON USE OF FUNDS .— 4
251251 Amounts made available to carry out this section 5
252252 may not be used to— 6
253253 ‘‘(A) consult or train any school or person 7
254254 in the use of firearms; or 8
255255 ‘‘(B) hire school personnel or school-based 9
256256 contractors for the schools the School Safety 10
257257 Development Centers are advising under sub-11
258258 section (b)(3). 12
259259 ‘‘(g) D
260260 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
261261 ‘‘(1) E
262262 LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The term ‘eligible 14
263263 entities’ means any of the following: 15
264264 ‘‘(A) A State. 16
265265 ‘‘(B) A State educational agency (as such 17
266266 term is defined in section 8101 of the Elemen-18
267267 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 19
268268 U.S.C. 7801). 20
269269 ‘‘(C) A Tribal educational agency (as such 21
270270 term is defined in section 6132 of the Elemen-22
271271 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 23
272272 U.S.C. 7452)). 24
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276276 ‘‘(D) An institution of higher education eli-1
277277 gible for assistance under title III of the Higher 2
278278 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1051 et 3
279279 seq.). 4
280280 ‘‘(E) A Tribal College or University (as 5
281281 such term is defined in section 313 of the High-6
282282 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c)). 7
283283 ‘‘(2) E
284284 VIDENCE-BASED.—The term ‘evidence- 8
285285 based’ has the meaning given such term in section 9
286286 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 10
287287 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 11
288288 ‘‘(3) S
289289 CHOOL.—The term ‘school’ has the 12
290290 meaning given such term in section 2704 of the Om-13
291291 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 14
292292 (34 U.S.C. 10554). 15
293293 ‘‘(4) S
294294 CHOOL SAFETY PLAN .—The term ‘school 16
295295 safety plan’ means a set of common actions schools 17
296296 can take to address the foundational elements of 18
297297 school safety, including designated staff, school cli-19
298298 mate and mental health, reporting systems, threat 20
299299 assessment, emergency planning, educator training, 21
300300 student prevention training, exercises and drills, site 22
301301 assessments, and recovery plans.’’. 23
302302 (b) C
303303 LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 24
304304 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 25
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308308 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1
309309 2220E the following new item: 2
310310 ‘‘Sec. 2220F. School Safety Development Center program.’’.
311311 Æ
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