Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2682 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2682
5	5	To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish
6	6	a grant program that will support efforts at the State level to establish
7	7	anti-bullying task forces to study, address, and reduce bullying in elemen-
8	8	tary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	APRIL7, 2025
11	11	Mr. K
12	12	RISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TONKO,
13	13	Mr. S
14	14	OTO, and Ms. SHERRILL) introduced the following bill; which was
15	15	referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
18	18	of 1965 to establish a grant program that will support
19	19	efforts at the State level to establish anti-bullying task
20	20	forces to study, address, and reduce bullying in elemen-
21	21	tary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘STOP Bullying Act’’. 4
26	26	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5
27	27	The Congress finds the following: 6
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31	31	(1) Nearly 1-in-5 K–12 students have reported 1
32	32	being bullied at school, accounting for more than 2
33	33	10,000,000 students across the country. 3
34	34	(2) Since most instances of bullying take place 4
35	35	on school grounds, school staff and teachers play an 5
36	36	instrumental role in bullying prevention. 6
37	37	(3) According to the NCES, 68 percent of 7
38	38	grade 6–12 students who are bullied face repeated 8
39	39	incidents over multiple days, and many have re-9
40	40	ported negative impacts on their physical health as 10
41	41	a result of being bullied at school. 11
42	42	(4) Research shows that engaged educators who 12
43	43	are supportive of all students help to reduce the 13
44	44	overall presence of bullying and harassment on 14
45	45	school grounds. 15
46	46	(5) Marginalized students face high rates of 16
47	47	bullying, with studies showing that 71 percent of 17
48	48	Jewish families have experienced antisemitism at 18
49	49	school, 78 percent of Sikh students have been bullied 19
50	50	at school, 83 percent of LGBTQ+ students have 20
51	51	been harassed or assaulted at school, and 44 percent 21
52	52	of teenagers with developmental disabilities have 22
53	53	been bullied at school. 23
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57	57	(6) Hostile school environments have a detri-1
58	58	mental effect on the academic success and health of 2
59	59	students. 3
60	60	(7) 56 percent of bullying incidents are never 4
61	61	reported to an adult, inhibiting school systems in ad-5
62	62	dressing hostile environments and supporting the 6
63	63	well-being of all students. 7
64	64	(8) Governments and educators in every State 8
65	65	have a responsibility to ensure State and local edu-9
66	66	cation systems have processes in place for students 10
67	67	to be able to learn in a safe environment, regardless 11
68	68	of their actual or perceived race, color, national ori-12
69	69	gin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender iden-13
70	70	tity, or religion. 14
71	71	SEC. 3. STATE ANTI-BULLYING TASK FORCE REQUIRE-15
72	72	MENT. 16
73	73	Subpart 2 of part F of title VIII of the Elementary 17
74	74	and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881 18
75	75	et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 19
76	76	‘‘SEC. 8549D. STATE ANTI-BULLYING TASK FORCE GRANTS. 20
77	77	‘‘(a) A
78	78	NTI-BULLYINGTASKFORCEGRANTPRO-21
79	79	GRAM.—The Secretary shall carry out a program to make 22
80	80	grants to each State to establish and implement a task 23
81	81	force to study, address, and reduce bullying in elementary 24
82	82	schools and secondary schools. 25
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86	86	‘‘(b) USE OFFUNDS.—Each State task force estab-1
87	87	lished under a grant under this section shall use the grant 2
88	88	funds to conduct a study on bullying in the elementary 3
89	89	schools and secondary schools of such State that in-4
90	90	cludes— 5
91	91	‘‘(1) policies of the local educational agencies in 6
92	92	such State with respect to bullying; 7
93	93	‘‘(2) teacher, parent, and student education 8
94	94	with respect to bullying; and 9
95	95	‘‘(3) the incidents of student violence and self- 10
96	96	harm as a result of bullying. 11
97	97	‘‘(c) M
98	98	EMBERSHIP.— 12
99	99	‘‘(1) C
100	100	HAIR.—Each Chief Education Officer of 13
101	101	a State shall designate one individual to serve as the 14
102	102	chair of the task force of such State. 15
103	103	‘‘(2) C
104	104	OMPOSITION.—Each State shall des-16
105	105	ignate at least one individual from each of the fol-17
106	106	lowing categories to serve on the task force of such 18
107	107	State: 19
108	108	‘‘(A) At least one teacher at elementary 20
109	109	schools and secondary schools selected in con-21
110	110	sultation with the union or association rep-22
111	111	resenting educators. 23
112	112	‘‘(B) At least one school administrator. 24
113	113	‘‘(C) At least one parent of students. 25
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117	117	‘‘(D) At least one K–12 student. 1
118	118	‘‘(E) At least one guidance counselor. 2
119	119	‘‘(F) At least one child psychologist. 3
120	120	‘‘(G) At least one school psychologist. 4
121	121	‘‘(H) At least one paraprofessional. 5
122	122	‘‘(I) At least one lawyer. 6
123	123	‘‘(J) At least one representative from a 7
124	124	community-based organization who specializes 8
125	125	in providing supportive services to students who 9
126	126	identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 10
127	127	or queer. 11
128	128	‘‘(K) Professionals who specialize in pro-12
129	129	viding support services to students who identify 13
130	130	as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. 14
131	131	‘‘(L) At least one individual from the State 15
132	132	Education Agency office focused on school im-16
133	133	provement and school climate. 17
134	134	‘‘(M) Additional individuals, as determined 18
135	135	by the chair of the task force. 19
136	136	‘‘(3) T
137	137	ERMS OF MEMBERS .— 20
138	138	‘‘(A) I
139	139	N GENERAL.—Each member of a 21
140	140	task force of State shall be appointed for the 22
141	141	duration of the existence of such task force. 23
142	142	‘‘(B) V
143	143	ACANCIES.—A vacancy on a task 24
144	144	force shall be filled in the manner in which the 25
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148	148	original designation was made under paragraph 1
149	149	(2). 2
150	150	‘‘(4) D
151	151	ISCRETIONARY COORDINATION .—A task 3
152	152	force of a State may coordinate activities under this 4
153	153	section with other boards and commissions of such 5
154	154	State. 6
155	155	‘‘(d) R
156	156	EPORT TOCHIEFEDUCATIONOFFICER.— 7
157	157	‘‘(1) I
158	158	N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 8
159	159	the date on which the State submits the study re-9
160	160	quired under subsection (b), the State task force of 10
161	161	such State shall submit a final report to the Chief 11
162	162	Education Officer of such State and the Secretary of 12
163	163	Education containing— 13
164	164	‘‘(A) the annual findings and conclusions 14
165	165	of the task force; 15
166	166	‘‘(B) the recommendations of the task 16
167	167	force for legislation or administrative actions; 17
168	168	and 18
169	169	‘‘(C) best practices with respect to bullying 19
170	170	in elementary schools and secondary schools 20
171	171	that includes recommendations for how— 21
172	172	‘‘(i) to address and reduce bullying; 22
173	173	‘‘(ii) to best educate all relevant 23
174	174	school staff on recognizing bullying; and 24
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178	178	‘‘(iii) parents can best address and 1
179	179	discuss with their children the early warn-2
180	180	ing signs of bullying. 3
181	181	‘‘(2) P
182	182	UBLICATION.—Each State task force 4
183	183	shall make the final report submitted under para-5
184	184	graph (1) publicly available.’’. 6
185	185	Æ
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