Bullying Redress And Verified Enforcement Act or the BRAVE Act
This bill requires a local educational agency (LEA), in order to receive certain federal education funding, to collect and publish certain information about instances of bullying in schools.
Specifically, the bill requires an LEA employee who becomes aware of bullying to report information about the bullying to an LEA-designated individual within seven business days. The LEA-designated individual must, within 60 days after receiving such a report, inform all of the LEA's employees of the acts described and the response of the LEA's employees.
Additionally, the bill requires each LEA to
The bill requires the OCR to (1) establish and publish complaint procedures; (2) investigate each complaint; (3) withhold certain federal funds from, issue a complaint against, or enter into a compliance agreement with any noncompliant LEA; and (4) make information about each complaint available on ED's website.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5582 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5582
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
October 15, 2021
Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Carson, Ms. Lee of California, Ms.
Norton, and Mr. Takano) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
Part F of title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``Subpart 6--Bullying
``SEC. 8581. OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
``(a) Report of Bullying.--
``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), 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 subsection (b) by not later
than 7 business days after becoming aware of such bullying a
description of--
``(A) the acts that constituted bullying;
``(B) if the bullying included a reference to or
was motivated by an actual or perceived protected
characteristic of the victim, such protected
characteristic; and
``(C) the response to such bullying by employees of
the local educational agency.
``(2) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), 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 paragraph
(1).
``(b) Receipt of Reports.--A local educational agency shall
designate an individual to receive and keep a record of reports of
bullying and shall inform each employee of the local educational agency
of the contact information of the individual so designated.
``(c) Reporting to the Local Educational Agency.--Not later than 60
days after the date of the receipt of a report under subsection (a)(1),
the individual designated under subsection (b) 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.
``(d) Publicly Available Quarterly Reports.--
``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (1), 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--
``(A) lists the number of bullying reports made
since the previous quarterly report; and
``(B) informs the public of the right to file a
complaint under section 8582(b)(2).
``(2) Exception.--A local educational agency shall not
publish a report under paragraph (1) in a case in which such
publication would reveal personally identifiable information
about an individual student.
``(e) 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.
``SEC. 8582. FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.
``(a) Condition of Federal Funding.--As a condition of receiving
funds under this Act, a local educational agency shall--
``(1) annually certify to the Secretary in writing that
such local educational agency has complied with this section;
and
``(2) together with such certification, submit the 4 most
recent quarterly reports published preceding such certification
pursuant to section 8581(d).
``(b) Federal Receipt of Complaints.--The Assistant Secretary who
serves as the head of the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of
Education shall--
``(1) 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
``(2) publish such procedure on the internet website of the
Department of Education.
``(c) Federal Response to Complaints.--After receiving a complaint
pursuant to subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary shall--
``(1) investigate such complaint to determine if a local
educational agency failed to comply with this section; and
``(2) if such local educational agency is determined under
paragraph (1) to have failed to comply with this section--
``(A) withhold further payment of funds under this
Act to such local educational agency;
``(B) issue a complaint to compel compliance of
such local educational agency through a cease and
desist order; or
``(C) 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.
``(d) 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 information about such complaint, which
shall--
``(1) 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
``(2) exclude any personally identifiable information of
any student involved.
``SEC. 8583. DEFINITIONS.
``In this subpart:
``(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.''.
SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents for the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 8574, the following:
``subpart 6--bullying
``Sec. 8581. Official reporting requirements.
``Sec. 8582. Federal enforcement.
``Sec. 8583. Definitions.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line