Supporting local educational agencies in transitioning away from police in schools

(a) Grant program established The Secretary of Education shall award grants, on a competitive and rolling basis, to local educational agencies to enable those local educational agencies— (1) to replace covered law enforcement officers in elementary and secondary schools with personnel and services that support mental health and trauma-informed services; and (2) to reform school safety and disciplinary policies so they reflect evidence-based practices that do not rely on the criminal justice system and provide the necessary staff training and support to implement such policies. (b) Application A local educational agency desiring a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including an assurance that— (1) the local educational agency will not have covered law enforcement officers stationed on school campuses, including by terminating any existing contract with local law enforcement or, where applicable, dissolving school district-based police departments, at least 30 days prior to the entity receiving funds under this section; and (2) the local educational agency will not establish any new contract with law enforcement or create its own school police department for the duration of the grant. (c) Priority In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to— (1) local educational agencies that terminated their contract with local law enforcement or dissolved their school district-based police department prior to submitting an application and provide assurances that the local educational agency will not create or restart a contract with State or local law enforcement, create or reinstate a school district police department, or create or restart a program of other law enforcement or armed school personnel during the duration of the grant; (2) local educational agencies with a larger share of students who are economically disadvantaged, in the event that funds are insufficient to award grants to all eligible applicants; and (3) local educational agencies that— (A) identify the uses of funds in subsection (d) based on meaningful community engagement; and (B) establish ongoing stakeholder oversight, guidance, and coordination of the proposed activities or policies with a broad group of stakeholders, including any groups of students, as well as their families, who have been disproportionately arrested, suspended, or expelled, to ensure proposed activities and policies mitigate disparities in the use of exclusionary discipline and promote a positive school culture. (d) Uses of funds (1) Required use A local educational agency receiving funds under this section shall use such grant funds to hire, maintain, or train school counselors, school psychologists, nurses, social workers, credible messengers, community health workers and trauma-informed personnel, dedicated staff specifically trained in de-escalation and violence interruption practices, staff trained in anti-bias practices, doctoral level specialists in behavior planning and intervention, or other specialists or individuals with expertise in school climate and behavior. (2) Permitted uses In addition to the required use described in paragraph (1), a local educational agency receiving funds under this section may also use grant funds to carry out 1 or more of the following: (A) Implementing schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports, restorative justice programs and interventions, mediators, social and emotional learning programs, or other evidence-based trauma-informed services. (B) Providing ongoing professional development to teachers, teacher assistants, school leaders, counselors, specialized instructional support personnel, credible messengers, and mental health professionals that— (i) fosters safe, inclusive, and stable learning environments that support the social, emotional, mental, and academic well-being of students and prevent and mitigate the effects of trauma, including through social and emotional learning; (ii) improves school capacity to identify, refer, and provide services to students in need of trauma support services; (iii) reflects the best practices for trauma-informed identification, referral, and support developed by the Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care; (iv) reduces the number of students with disabilities experiencing school discipline for their disability-related behavior through specific training on the identification, development, and implementation of Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs); and (v) reduces the number of Black, Latino, Native American, and LGBTQI+ students who are subjected to punitive discipline practices rather than trauma-informed services and supports. (e) Prohibition No portion of any grant funds awarded under this section may be used for— (1) the development, establishment, implementation, or enforcement of punitive school discipline policies, including the commission, contracting of, or agreements with, law enforcement that support the presence of police in schools, including formal or informal partnerships or data and information sharing agreements with the Department of Justice or Secretary of Homeland Security, including U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U. S. Customs and Border Protection; (2) the purchase, maintenance, or installation of surveillance equipment or programs, including metal detectors, surveillance cameras, facial recognition technology, or software programs that monitor or mine the social media use or technology use of students; or (3) arming teachers, principals, school leaders, or other school personnel. (f) Grant amounts The amount of grant funds received under this section by a local educational agency shall be based on the number of students enrolled in the local educational agency. (g) Reporting (1) In General Each local educational agency receiving a grant under this section shall prepare and submit an annual report to the Secretary containing the information described in paragraph (2). Such report shall be made publicly available. (2) Contents Subject to paragraph (3), the report described in paragraph (1) shall include information about— (A) how the grant funds were used; (B) the number and percentage of students who were arrested by or referred to law enforcement officers in the previous year compared to the number and percentage arrested or referred during the term of the grant; (C) in the aggregate, the reasons for those arrests; (D) demographic data of students arrested or referred to law enforcement officers, disaggregated and cross-tabulated by race, ethnicity, age, gender, status as a child with a disability, and whether the student is eligible for a free or reduced price lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); (E) the number of metal detectors and surveillance cameras used by each school served by the local educational agency, as well as policies governing the use of these devices; (F) whether facial recognition technology is used by the local educational agency, and if so, the policies governing the use of such technology; and (G) whether software programs that monitor or mine the social media use or technology use of students or the families of students are used by, or at the direction of, the local educational agency, and if so, the contract with the provider of those software programs as well as the policies governing the use of such programs. (3) Personally identifiable information Collection or disaggregation of information shall not be required under subparagraphs (B) through (D) of paragraph (2) to the extent that such collection or disaggregation would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student or otherwise violate privacy laws. (h) Supplement not supplant A local educational agency shall use Federal funds received under this section only to supplement the funds that would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be made available from State and local sources for the activities described in subsection (d), and not to supplant such funds (i) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000,000.