[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5295 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5295
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 20, 2006
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To protect students and teachers.
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 ``Student and Teacher Safety Act of
2006''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States Department of Education's National
Center for Education Statistics reported in the 2005 Indicators
of School Crime and Safety that in 2003 seventeen percent of
students in grades 9-12 reported they carried a weapon. Six
percent reported having carried a weapon on school grounds.
(2) The same survey reported that 29 percent of all
students in grades 9-12 reported that someone offered, sold, or
gave them an illegal drug on school property within the last 12
months.
(3) The United States Constitution's Fourth Amendment
guarantees ``the right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures''.
(4) That while the Supreme Court affirmed the Fourth
Amendment's application to students in public schools in New
Jersey vs. TLO (1985), the Court held that searches of students
by school officials do not require warrants issued by judges
showing probable cause. The Court will ordinarily hold that
such a search is permissible if--
(A) there are reasonable grounds for suspecting the
search will reveal evidence that the student violated
the law or school rules; and
(B) the measures used to conduct the search are
reasonably related to the search's objectives, without
being excessively intrusive in light of the student's
age, sex, and nature of the offense.
(5) The Supreme Court held in Board of Education of
Independent Sch. Dist. 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls
(2002) that random drug testing of students who were
participating in extracurricular activities was reasonable and
did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court stated that
such search policies effectively serve the School Districts
interest in protecting its students' health and safety.
SEC. 3. SEARCHES BASED ON REASONABLE SUSPICION.
(a) In General.--Each local educational agency shall have in effect
throughout the jurisdiction of the agency policies that ensure that a
search described in subsection (b) is deemed reasonable and
permissible.
(b) Searches Covered.--A search referred to in subsection (a) is a
search by a full-time teacher or school official, acting on any
reasonable suspicion based on professional experience and judgment, of
any minor student on the grounds of any public school, if the search is
conducted to ensure that classrooms, school buildings, school property
and students remain free from the threat of all weapons, dangerous
materials, or illegal narcotics. The measures used to conduct any
search must be reasonably related to the search's objectives, without
being excessively intrusive in light of the student's age, sex, and the
nature of the offense.
SEC. 4. ENCOURAGEMENT TO PROTECT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.
(a) In General.--A local educational agency that fails to comply
with section 3 shall not, during the period of noncompliance, receive
any Safe and Drug Free School funds after fiscal year 2008.
(b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``Safe and Drug Free
School funds'' includes any funds under Part A of Title IV of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 2006.
Attest:
KAREN L. HAAS,
Clerk.