WASHINGTON — Today US Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Udall (D-NM), Dean Heller (R-NV), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Doug Jones (D-AL), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Angus King (D-ME) introduced the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, legislation that funds school security improvements and invests in early intervention and prevention programs to stop school violence before it happens.

The legislation authorizes the Department of Justice to make grants for the purposes of training students, school personnel, and law enforcement to identify signs of violence and intervene to prevent people from hurting themselves or others. In addition to prevention efforts, the legislation funds evidence-based technology and equipment to improve school security and prevent school violence.  This includes the development of anonymous reporting systems, and commonsense security infrastructure improvements.  The legislation also provides funds for school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams to help schools intake and triage threats before tragedy strikes.  

Following tragedies like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and now Parkland, the federal government has funded short-term school safety initiatives focused on crisis response, active shooters, and physical infrastructure. While these are important investments, we have not yet seen sustained strategies to STOP violence in our schools before it happens. Our students, educators, and local law enforcement need the tools and support to take proactive and continuous steps toward improving school safety and security. 

“Thanks to the hard work of my friends Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden and their organization Sandy Hook Promise, this is a solid bill that’ll help schools recognize the signs of troubled young people and get them the help they need. But even they would tell you that stopping there would be a failure. If we are going to do something meaningful about these school shootings, we need to support programs that work, but also address how easy it is for kids to get their hands of powerful weapons,” said Murphy.

“By providing critical resources to schools to strengthen their security infrastructure and train teachers, administrators, and law enforcement officers to intervene, we can save countless lives,” said Hatch. “As I noted on the Senate floor last week, putting these kinds of critical resources closer to students in Utah has led to incredible success, stopping 86 attacks in schools since 2016. I believe we can replicate that success on a national level with this commonsense, noncontroversial proposal.”

“This bipartisan legislation would provide tools and resources to law enforcement, teachers, and students to help prevent acts of violence in our schools before they start—but, it’s just one part of the solution,” said Klobuchar. “I believe we also need to pass a number of other safety measures related to guns, including universal background checks.”

“The tragedy in Parkland was the direct result of a failure to communicate between law enforcement, the F.B.I., and Broward County Schools,” Rubio said. “The Stop School Violence Act, which was designed by Sandy Hook Promise, would help fix these shortcomings on a national level by driving collaboration between law enforcement and schools to help identify and stop dangerous and violent individuals before they act. This law has broad bi-partisan support in Congress. We should pass it as soon as possible.”

“I applaud Chairman Hatch for his leadership on this school safety legislation,” said McConnell. “Americans are united in wanting schools to ensure the safety and security of our children. We use a variety of security measures to protect workplaces and government buildings across America. We ought to be able to do the same to protect our children. I look forward to the Senate considering this legislation.”

“This bipartisan bill arms teachers and students with knowledge and resources to stop school violence before it starts,” said Blumenthal. Preventive measures like training teachers and students to recognize warning signs, and developing anonymous reporting systems are critical to ending school shootings and ensuring student safety. We must take every step possible to protect our children from gun violence.”

STOP School Violence Act of 2018

The Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act of 2018, or the STOP School Violence Act, reauthorizes and amends the 2001-2009 bipartisan Secure Our Schools Act to offer Department of Justice grants to states to help our schools implement proven, evidence-based programs and technologies that STOP school violence before it happens. 

The bill permits grants to fund evidence-based programs and practices to:

  • Training to students, school personnel, and local law enforcement to identify and warning signs and intervene to stop school violence before it happens;
  • Improve school security infrastructure to deter and respond to threats of school violence, including the development and implementation of anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence;
  • Develop and operate school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams; and
  • Facilitate coordination between schools and local law enforcement.

 

The bill would authorize $75 million for FY 2018, and $100 million annually for the next ten years, which may be partially offset from a DOJ research program called the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative.