Bullying Redress and Verified Enforcement Act or the BRAVE Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require the employees of local educational agencies (LEAs) who become aware of bullying to report to an LEA-designated individual, within seven business days: (1) the acts that constituted bullying; (2) the protected characteristic of the victim if the bullying included a reference to or was motivated by such an actual or perceived protected characteristic; and (3) the response of the LEA's employees.
Requires the LEA-designated individual, within 60 days after receiving such a report, to inform all the LEA's employees of the acts described and the response of the LEA's employees.
Requires each LEA to annually review its policies on bullying.
Directs each LEA to publish and make available to all of its students and their parents a quarterly report that: (1) summarizes the bullying reported since the previous quarterly report, (2) summarizes the responses to such bullying by the LEA's employees, (3) excludes any personally identifiable information of any student involved, and (4) informs the public of the right to file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Education regarding the LEA's failure to comply with this Act's requirements.
Directs the Assistant Secretary who heads the Office of Civil Rights to: (1) establish the complaint procedure and publish it on the Department's website; (2) investigate each complaint to determine if the LEA complied with this Act's requirements; (3) withhold ESEA funds from, issue a complaint against, or enter into a compliance agreement with a noncompliant LEA to bring it into compliance; and (4) make information about each complaint available on the Department's website.
Conditions each LEA's receipt of ESEA funds on the LEA: (1) annually certifying to the Secretary of Education in writing that it is in compliance with this Act's requirements, and (2) submitting its four most recent quarterly reports on bullying.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4756 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4756
To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities and assist
with equal protection claims against entities who fail to respond
appropriately to bullying, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 29, 2014
Mr. Cartwright (for himself and Mr. Michaud) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities and assist
with equal protection claims against entities who fail to respond
appropriately to bullying, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Bullying Redress and Verified
Enforcement Act'' or the ``BRAVE Act''.
SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7801 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 9534 the
following:
``SEC. 9534A. BULLYING.
``(a) Official Reporting Requirements.--
``(1) Report of bullying.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), a
local educational agency shall require an employee of
the local educational agency who becomes aware of
bullying to report to the individual designated under
paragraph (2) by not later than 7 business days after
becoming aware of such bullying a description of--
``(i) the acts that constituted bullying;
``(ii) if the bullying included a reference
to or was motivated by an actual or perceived
protected characteristic of the victim, such
protected characteristic; and
``(iii) the response to such bullying by
employees of the local educational agency.
``(B) Exception.--Notwithstanding subparagraph (A),
in the case of an employee of a local educational
agency who is informed of bullying by a student
attending a school served by the local educational
agency, but the student requests that such bullying not
be reported by the employee, the employee shall not be
required to report such bullying under subparagraph
(A).
``(2) Receipt of reports.--A local educational agency shall
designate an individual to receive reports of bullying and
shall inform each employee of the local educational agency of
the contact information of the individual so designated.
``(3) Reporting to the local educational agency.--Not later
than 60 days after the date of the receipt of a report under
paragraph (1), the individual designated under paragraph (2)
shall inform all employees of the local educational agency of
the acts described and the response by employees of the local
educational agency and shall exclude any personally
identifiable information of any student involved.
``(4) Publicly available quarterly reports.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), a
local educational agency shall publish and make
available to all students served by the local
educational agency and parents of such students a
report on a quarterly basis that--
``(i) summarizes the bullying reported
since the previous quarterly report;
``(ii) summarizes the responses by
employees of the local educational agency to
such bullying;
``(iii) excludes any personally
identifiable information of any student
involved; and
``(iv) informs the public of the right to
file a complaint under subsection (b)(2).
``(B) Exception.--A local educational agency shall
not publish a report under subparagraph (A) in a case
in which such publication would reveal personally
identifiable information about an individual student.
``(5) Annual policy review.--Each local educational agency
shall review, on an annual basis, the policies on bullying for
schools served by the local educational agency.
``(b) Federal Enforcement.--
``(1) Condition of federal funding.--As a condition of
receiving funds under this Act, a local educational agency
shall--
``(A) annually certify to the Secretary in writing
that such local educational agency has complied with
this section; and
``(B) together with such certification, submit the
4 most recent quarterly reports published preceding
such certification pursuant to subsection (a)(4).
``(2) Federal receipt of complaints.--The Assistant
Secretary who serves as the head of the Office of Civil Rights
for the Department of Education shall--
``(A) establish a procedure for a student of a
local educational agency, a parent of such student, or
another appropriate individual to submit to the
Assistant Secretary a complaint relating to a failure
to comply with this section; and
``(B) publish such procedure on the Internet
website of the Department of Education.
``(3) Federal response to complaints.--After receiving a
complaint pursuant to paragraph (2), the Assistant Secretary
shall--
``(A) investigate such complaint to determine if a
local educational agency failed to comply with this
section; and
``(B) if such local educational agency is
determined under subparagraph (A) to have failed to
comply with this section--
``(i) withhold further payment of funds
under this Act to such local educational
agency;
``(ii) issue a complaint to compel
compliance of such local educational agency
through a cease and desist order; or
``(iii) enter into a compliance agreement
with such local educational agency to bring it
into compliance with this section,
in the same manner as the Secretary is authorized to
take such actions under sections 455, 456, and 457,
respectively, of the General Education Provisions Act.
``(4) Public availability of information about
complaints.--Not later than 60 days after receiving a complaint
pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the Assistant Secretary shall
make available on the Internet website of the Department of
Education information about such complaint, which shall--
``(A) if the bullying included a reference to or
was motivated by an actual or perceived protected
characteristic of the victim, include a description of
such protected characteristic; and
``(B) exclude any personally identifiable
information of any student involved.
``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Bullying.--The term `bullying' means any severe,
pervasive, or persistent electronic, written, verbal, or
physical act by one student or a group of students toward
another student during school hours and on school premises, or
at a school-sponsored activity outside of school hours, that
causes--
``(A) harm to or reasonable concern for the person,
property, or mental health of such other student; or
``(B) such other student to withdraw from or avoid
benefitting from the services, activities, or
opportunities offered by the school.
``(2) Protected characteristic.--The term `protected
characteristic' includes race, color, sex, religion, national
origin, disability, gender, gender identity, and sexual
orientation.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
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