Supporting Teachers and Safe Students Act

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5324 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5324

  To improve school safety and mental health services, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 19, 2018

 Mr. Ferguson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To improve school safety and mental health services, 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 ``Supporting Teachers and Safe 
Students Act''.

SEC. 2. VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT.

    (a) State Uses of Funds.--Section 2101(c)(4)(B) of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6611(c)(4)(B)) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating clause (xxi) as clause (xxiv); and
            (2) by inserting after clause (xx) the following:
                            ``(xxi) Supporting efforts to increase the 
                        professional development that is evidence-based 
                        (to the extent the State, in consultation with 
                        local educational agencies in the State, 
                        determines that such evidence is reasonably 
                        available) for teachers, principals, school 
                        leaders, and other school personnel in mental 
                        health awareness, violence prevention, crisis 
                        response, de-escalation and anger management 
                        techniques, positive behavioral interventions 
                        and supports, bullying and harassment 
                        prevention, and other similar programs designed 
                        to reduce and prevent school violence.
                            ``(xxii) Assisting local educational 
                        agencies in--
                                    ``(I) developing and implementing 
                                professional development that is 
                                evidence-based (to the extent the 
                                State, in consultation with local 
                                educational agencies in the State, 
                                determines that such evidence is 
                                reasonably available) on violence 
                                prevention programs and emergency 
                                response and notification systems; and
                                    ``(II) improving school climate.
                            ``(xxiii) Developing agreements between 
                        local educational agencies, law enforcement 
                        agencies, and health agencies, including 
                        nonprofit, public, and private mental health 
                        agencies and institutions, to improve 
                        coordination of services and to identify, 
                        respond to, and prevent threats to the safety 
                        of students and school personnel.''.
    (b) Local Uses of Funds.--Section 2103(b)(3) of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6613(b)(3)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (I)--
                    (A) in clause (ii), by inserting ``, including 
                mental health services,'' after ``services''; and
                    (B) in clause (iii), by striking ``and public or 
                private mental health organizations'' and inserting ``, 
                public or private mental health organizations, and 
                local law enforcement agencies, to improve the 
                coordination of services and to identify, respond to, 
                and prevent threats to the safety of students and 
                school personnel'';
            (2) in subparagraph (O), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (3) by redesignating subparagraph (P) as subparagraph (R); 
        and
            (4) by inserting after subparagraph (O) the following:
                    ``(P) reducing the ratio of students to counselors 
                to improve the ability of schools to address the needs 
                of students through the recruiting and hiring of 
                school-based mental health services providers, as 
                defined in section 4102(6);
                    ``(Q) developing and implementing professional 
                development that is evidence-based (to the extent the 
                State, in consultation with local educational agencies 
                in the State, determines that such evidence is 
                reasonably available) for teachers, specialized 
                instructional support personnel, principals, school 
                leaders, and other school personnel in violence 
                prevention, mental health awareness, threat de-
                escalation methods, and positive behavioral 
                interventions and supports, and supporting bullying and 
                harassment prevention programs, and other similar 
                programs designed to reduce and prevent school violence 
                and improve the school climate for all students; and''.
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