Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB986 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 986
5	5	To address and take action to prevent bullying and harassment of students.
6	6	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
7	7	MARCH12, 2025
8	8	Mr. K
9	9	AINE(for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr.
10	10	B
11	11	OOKER, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DUR-
12	12	BIN, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLO-
13	13	BUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr.
14	14	P
15	15	ETERS, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. SMITH, Mr.
16	16	W
17	17	ARNER, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. MURPHY) in-
18	18	troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
19	19	mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
20	20	A BILL
21	21	To address and take action to prevent bullying and
22	22	harassment of students.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Schools Improve-4
27	27	ment Act’’. 5
28	28	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
29	29	Congress finds the following: 7
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33	33	(1) Bullying and harassment foster a climate of 1
34	34	fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the 2
35	35	physical and psychological health of its victims and 3
36	36	create conditions that negatively affect learning, 4
37	37	thereby undermining the ability of students to 5
38	38	achieve their full potential. 6
39	39	(2) Bullying and harassment contribute to high 7
40	40	dropout rates, increased absenteeism, and academic 8
41	41	underachievement. 9
42	42	(3) Bullying and harassment include a range of 10
43	43	behaviors that negatively impact a student’s ability 11
44	44	to learn and participate in educational opportunities 12
45	45	and activities that schools offer. Such behaviors can 13
46	46	include hitting or punching, name-calling, intimida-14
47	47	tion through gestures or social exclusion, and send-15
48	48	ing insulting or offensive messages through elec-16
49	49	tronic communications, such as internet sites, e- 17
50	50	mail, instant messaging, mobile phones and mes-18
51	51	saging, telephone, or any other means. 19
52	52	(4) Schools with enumerated anti-bullying and 20
53	53	harassment policies have an increased level of re-21
54	54	porting and teacher intervention in incidents of bul-22
55	55	lying and harassment, thereby reducing the overall 23
56	56	frequency and number of such incidents. 24
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60	60	(5) Students have been particularly singled out 1
61	61	for bullying and harassment on the basis of their ac-2
62	62	tual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, 3
63	63	disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, 4
64	64	sex characteristics (including intersex traits), or reli-5
65	65	gion, among other categories. 6
66	66	(6) Some young people experience a form of 7
67	67	bullying called relational aggression or psychological 8
68	68	bullying, which harms individuals by damaging, 9
69	69	threatening, or manipulating their relationships with 10
70	70	their peers, or by injuring their feelings of social ac-11
71	71	ceptance. 12
72	72	(7) Interventions to address bullying and har-13
73	73	assment should incorporate evidence-based discipline 14
74	74	policies and practices, such as Positive Behavior 15
75	75	Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and other re-16
76	76	storative practices that can minimize suspensions, 17
77	77	expulsions, and other exclusionary and harmful dis-18
78	78	cipline policies to ensure that students are not 19
79	79	‘‘pushed-out’’ or diverted to the juvenile justice sys-20
80	80	tem. 21
81	81	(8) Perpetrators of bullying and harassment 22
82	82	often have a history of trauma or psychological dis-23
83	83	tress, or have been bullied themselves. These stu-24
84	84	dents, often discussed as ‘‘bully-victims’’, require ad-25
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88	88	ditional trauma-informed interventions and consider-1
89	89	ation. 2
90	90	SEC. 3. SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT. 3
91	91	(a) I
92	92	NGENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 4
93	93	Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 5
94	94	seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 6
95	95	‘‘PART G—SAFE SCHOOLS IMPROVEMENT 7
96	96	‘‘SEC. 4701. PURPOSE. 8
97	97	‘‘The purpose of this part is to address the problem 9
98	98	of bullying and harassment conduct of students in public 10
99	99	elementary schools and secondary schools. 11
100	100	‘‘SEC. 4702. ANTI-BULLYING POLICIES. 12
101	101	‘‘(a) B
102	102	ULLYING.—In this part, the term ‘bullying’ 13
103	103	means conduct that adversely affects the ability of one or 14
104	104	more students to participate in or benefit from the school’s 15
105	105	educational programs or activities by placing a student in 16
106	106	fear of harm. 17
107	107	‘‘(b) P
108	108	OLICIES.—A State that receives a grant under 18
109	109	this title shall require all local educational agencies in the 19
110	110	State to carry out the following: 20
111	111	‘‘(1) Establish policies that prevent and prohibit 21
112	112	conduct, including bullying and harassment, that— 22
113	113	‘‘(A) limits a student’s ability to partici-23
114	114	pate in, or benefit from, a program or activity 24
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118	118	of a public school or local educational agency; 1
119	119	or 2
120	120	‘‘(B) creates a hostile or abusive edu-3
121	121	cational environment, adversely affecting a stu-4
122	122	dent’s education, at a program or activity of a 5
123	123	public school or local educational agency, in-6
124	124	cluding acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical 7
125	125	aggression or intimidation. 8
126	126	‘‘(2) The policies required under paragraph (1) 9
127	127	shall include a prohibition of bullying or harassment 10
128	128	conduct based on— 11
129	129	‘‘(A) a student’s actual or perceived race, 12
130	130	color, national origin, sex (including sexual ori-13
131	131	entation, gender identity, and sex characteris-14
132	132	tics (including intersex traits)), disability, or re-15
133	133	ligion; 16
134	134	‘‘(B) the actual or perceived race, color, 17
135	135	national origin, sex (including sexual orienta-18
136	136	tion, gender identity, and sex characteristics 19
137	137	(including intersex traits)), disability, or reli-20
138	138	gion of a person with whom a student associ-21
139	139	ates or has associated; or 22
140	140	‘‘(C) any other distinguishing characteris-23
141	141	tics that may be defined by the State or local 24
142	142	educational agency. 25
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146	146	‘‘(3) Provide— 1
147	147	‘‘(A) annual notice to students, parents, 2
148	148	and educational professionals describing the full 3
149	149	range of prohibited conduct contained in such 4
150	150	local educational agency’s discipline policies; 5
151	151	and 6
152	152	‘‘(B) grievance procedures for students or 7
153	153	parents to register complaints regarding the 8
154	154	prohibited conduct contained in such local edu-9
155	155	cational agency’s discipline policies, including— 10
156	156	‘‘(i) the name of the local educational 11
157	157	agency officials who are designated as re-12
158	158	sponsible for receiving such complaints; 13
159	159	and 14
160	160	‘‘(ii) timelines that the local edu-15
161	161	cational agency will establish in the resolu-16
162	162	tion of such complaints. 17
163	163	‘‘(4) Collect annual incidence and frequency of 18
164	164	incidents data about the conduct prohibited by the 19
165	165	policies described in paragraph (1) at the school 20
166	166	level that are accurate and complete and publicly re-21
167	167	port such data at the school level and local edu-22
168	168	cational agency level. The local educational agency 23
169	169	shall ensure that victims or persons responsible for 24
170	170	such conduct are not identifiable. 25
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174	174	‘‘SEC. 4703. STATE REPORTS. 1
175	175	‘‘The chief executive officer of a State that receives 2
176	176	a grant under this title, in cooperation with the State edu-3
177	177	cational agency, shall submit a biennial report to the Sec-4
178	178	retary— 5
179	179	‘‘(1) on the information reported by local edu-6
180	180	cational agencies in the State pursuant to section 7
181	181	4702(b)(4); and 8
182	182	‘‘(2) describing the State’s plans for supporting 9
183	183	local educational agency efforts to address the con-10
184	184	duct prohibited by the policies described in section 11
185	185	4702(b)(1). 12
186	186	‘‘SEC. 4704. EVALUATION. 13
187	187	‘‘(a) B
188	188	IENNIALEVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 14
189	189	conduct an independent biennial evaluation of programs 15
190	190	and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elemen-16
191	191	tary schools and secondary schools, including implementa-17
192	192	tion of the requirements described in section 4702, includ-18
193	193	ing whether such requirements have appreciably reduced 19
194	194	the level of the prohibited conduct and have conducted ef-20
195	195	fective parent involvement and training programs. 21
196	196	‘‘(b) D
197	197	ATACOLLECTION.—The Commissioner for 22
198	198	Education Statistics shall collect data from States, that 23
199	199	are subject to independent review, to determine the inci-24
200	200	dence and frequency of conduct prohibited by the policies 25
201	201	described in section 4702. 26
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205	205	‘‘(c) BIENNIALREPORT.—Not later than January 1, 1
206	206	2026, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall 2
207	207	submit to the President and Congress a report on the find-3
208	208	ings of the evaluation conducted under subsection (a) to-4
209	209	gether with the data collected under subsection (b) and 5
210	210	data submitted by the States under section 4703. 6
211	211	‘‘SEC. 4705. EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 7
212	212	‘‘(a) F
213	213	EDERAL AND STATENONDISCRIMINATION 8
214	214	L
215	215	AWS.—Nothing in this part shall be construed to invali-9
216	216	date or limit rights, remedies, procedures, or legal stand-10
217	217	ards available to victims of discrimination under any other 11
218	218	Federal law or law of a State or political subdivision of 12
219	219	a State, including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 13
220	220	(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title IX of the Education 14
221	221	Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), section 15
222	222	504 or 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 16
223	223	794, 794a), or the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 17
224	224	(42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). The obligations imposed by this 18
225	225	part are in addition to those imposed by title VI of the 19
226	226	Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), title 20
227	227	IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 21
228	228	1681 et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 22
229	229	1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Americans with Disabil-23
230	230	ities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 24
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234	234	‘‘(b) FREESPEECH ANDEXPRESSIONLAWS.—Noth-1
235	235	ing in this part shall be construed to alter legal standards 2
236	236	regarding, or affect the rights (including remedies and 3
237	237	procedures) available to individuals under, other Federal 4
238	238	laws that establish protections for freedom of speech or 5
239	239	expression. 6
240	240	‘‘SEC. 4706. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 7
241	241	‘‘Nothing in this part shall be construed to prohibit 8
242	242	a State or local entity from enacting any law with respect 9
243	243	to the prevention of bullying or harassment of students 10
244	244	that is not inconsistent with this part.’’. 11
245	245	(b) T
246	246	ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents in 12
247	247	section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 13
248	248	of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 14
249	249	to section 4644 the following: 15
250	250	‘‘PARTG—SAFESCHOOLSIMPROVEMENT
251	251	‘‘Sec. 4701. Purpose.
252	252	‘‘Sec. 4702. Anti-bullying policies.
253	253	‘‘Sec. 4703. State reports.
254	254	‘‘Sec. 4704. Evaluation.
255	255	‘‘Sec. 4705. Effect on other laws.
256	256	‘‘Sec. 4706. Rule of construction.’’.
257	257	Æ
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