October 3, 2018Updated March 16, 2020
Department of Education Support for School Safety Initiatives
Congressional interest in K-12 public school safety and
security has been strong following multiple school
shootings during the 2017-2018 school year, recent school shootings,
including the
mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School
in Parkland, FL, and Santa Fe High School in
Santa Fe, TX.
Though public school safety and security is
primarily a
state and local responsibility, there are several federal
federal programs and initiatives that can support these
efforts. This
In Focus provides an overview of programs
and resources
administered by the U.S. Department of
Education (ED) for
improving school safety.
Currently Funded Grant Programs
ED currently administers two programs that can help state
and local educational agencies (SEAs and LEAs) address
school safety concerns. Both programs are authorized
under Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds
Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95).
Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants
(SSAE grants, commonly referred to as the “block grant”
program) are authorized under ESEA Title IV-A. The
purpose of SSAE grants is to improve students’ academic
achievement by increasing the capacity of states, LEAs, and
schools to provide all students with access to a wellrounded education, improve school conditions for student
learning, and improve the use of technology. SSAE grant
funds are allocated by formula to each SEA, which must
allocate the majority of the SSAE block grant funds they
receive to LEAs (though they may reserve some funds for
state activities to support LEAs receiving grants). Funds are
then suballocated via formula to LEAs. Program
appropriations were $1.121 billion in FY2018FY2020.
LEAs have substantial flexibility with respect to the use of
funds under the SSAE grant program. However, they must
use funds for three broad categories of activities: (1)
supporting well-rounded educational opportunities, (2)
supporting safe and healthy students (including school
safety initiatives), and (3) supporting the effective use of
technology to improve the digital literacy of all students.
If an LEA receives a grant of $30,000 or more, it must
provide assurances that it will use funds toward activities in
each of the three categories, including at least 20% for
activities supporting safe and healthy students. If an LEA
receives a grant of less than $30,000, it may choose to use
its funds entirely toward one of the categories of activities.
In such cases, LEAs may choose to use the entirety of their
SSAE grants toward school safety initiatives, or conversely,
to use all of their funds for activities under one of the other
two categories. Under either scenario, an LEA may choose
to support a “safe and healthy student” initiative unrelated
to school safety (e.g., a health or nutrition education
program) or an initiative focused on school safety.
The programs and activities an LEA selects to support in
the category of Safe and Healthy Students (§4108) must,
among other requirements, be used to develop, implement,
and evaluate comprehensive programs and activities that
are coordinated with other schools and community-based
services and programs; and foster safe, healthy, supportive,
and drug-free environments that support student academic
achievement. Examples of allowable activities in this
category related to school safety include the following:
drug and violence prevention programs and activities
that are evidence based (to the extent that such evidence
is reasonably available),
school-based mental health services,
bullying and harassment prevention programs and
activities,
re-entry/transition programs for justice-involved youth,
mentoring and school counseling,
school-wide positive behavioral intervention and
support (PBIS) programs, and
training for school personnel in trauma-informed
practices in classroom management and crisis
management.
While drug and violence prevention activities are only
examples of what an LEA might choose to support with
Title IV-A funds, the Title IV-A program includes a
definition of what constitutes “drug and violence
prevention” prevention
in §4102(5). With respect to violence
prevention, the term
is defined as:
the promotion of school safety, such that students and
and school personnel are free from violent and disruptive
disruptive acts, including sexual harassment and
abuse, and
victimization associated with prejudice
and intolerance,
on school premises, going to and
from school, and at
school-sponsored activities,
through the creation and
maintenance of a school
environment that is free of
weapons and fosters
individual responsibility and
respect for the rights of others.
More Information
For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10910, Student
Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) Grants.
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Department of Education Support for School Safety Initiatives
of others.
National Activities for School Safety are authorized under
Title IV-F-3, Section 4631 of the ESEA. The National
Activities for School Safety program authorizes the
Secretary of Education (hereinafter referred to as the
Secretary) to use a portion of its funds for the Project
School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV)
program. Any remaining funds may be used to carry out
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Department of Education Support for School Safety Initiatives
other activities to improve students’ safety and well-being,
during and after the school day, through grants, contracts,
or cooperative agreements with public and private
organizations or individuals, or through agreements with
other federal agencies. Currently funded National Activities
for School Safety include the following:
Project SERV: This program was created to provide
resources to LEAs and institutions of higher education
(IHEs) that have experienced a violent or traumatic
crisis, disrupting the learning environment, such as a
school shooting or hurricane. Two types of grants are
awarded: (1) Immediate Services grants, which provide
short-term support following a traumatic event; and (2)
Extended Services grants, which address long-term
recovery efforts following a traumatic event. The
program received $53.76 million in FY2018. In FY2018,
$10.4FY2020. In FY2019,
$8.2 million in grants were awarded. Appropriations
not not
used in the year in which they are appropriated
remain remain
available for awards in subsequent fiscal years.
School Climate Transformation Grants (SCTGs):
SCTGs are competitive grants provided to SEAs and
LEAs to develop and implement multi-tiered
decisionmaking frameworks designed to improve school
climate and behavioral outcomes for all students, such
as PBIS systems. The first cohort of SCTGs was
The first cohort of SCTGs were competitively awarded
to 12 SEAs and over 70 LEAs in
21 states, the District
of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands for a five-year
period beginning in FY2014. Continuation grant award
funds were provided each year between FY2015 and
FY2018. In FY2018, ED estimates that $8 million and
$24 million will be available for continuation grants to
SEAs and LEAs, respectively. These competitive grants
were provided to SEAs and LEAs to develop and
implement multi-tiered decisionmaking frameworks
designed to improve school climate and behavioral
outcomes for all students, such as PBIS systems. The
Trump Administration has announced that the next
cohort of SCTGs, expected to be competitively awarded
in FY2019, will support communities impacted by the
opioid crisis by providing grants to SEAs and LEAs to
implement evidence-based opioid-use prevention
strategies in schools.
Other programs recently funded under National Activities
for School Safety include the following:
Project Prevent Grants (PPGs): This program
awarded competitive grants to LEAs in communities
with pervasive violence to support students and reduce
the In
FY2018, a second SCTG–SEA competition awarded
new grants totaling approximately $9 million to 14
SEAs. A second SCTG–LEA competition awarded
grants of $200,000 to $750,000 per year for up to five
years to 69 LEAs in 25 states, totaling nearly $42.4
million in grants in its first year. Both the second cohort
SCTG–LEA and SCTG–SEA competitions provided a
competitive preference priority to programs with plans
to support communities impacted by the opioid crisis by
providing grants to SEAs and LEAs to implement
school-based opioid-use prevention strategies.
Project Prevent Grants: Project Prevent awards
competitive grants to LEAs in communities with
pervasive violence to support students and reduce the
likelihood that students who have been exposed to
violence will later commit violent acts themselves.
Recipients of PPGs wereProject Prevent grants are required to
provide schoolbased(1) school-based social and emotional supports
to victims of
violence; violence, (2) access to counseling services
to assist students
in coping with trauma or anxiety;, and
(3) strategies and
activities to improve the school
environment and
prevent future violence. Grants were only awarded in
FY2014.
Promoting Student Resilience (PSR) Program: The
PSR program was funded in FY2016 and FY2017 to
award LEAs competitive grants to build their capacity to
provide school-based supports to address the behavioral
and mental health needs of students in communities that
experienced significant civil unrest over the 24 months
prior to the PSR grant opportunity announcement. It has
not been funded since FY2017 prevent future violence. In 2019, ED
awarded Project Prevent grants to 15 LEAs totaling
approximately $11.3 million.
Grants to States for Emergency Management
(GSEM): The GSEM grant program is intended to build
the capacity of SEAs to support LEAs in the
development and implementation of school emergency
operations plans (EOPs) to address both natural and
man-made threats. States use GSEMs to provide LEAs
with training and technical assistance on developing and
implementing school EOPs. In FY2018, ED awarded 11
five-year GSEMs of up to $750,000, totaling
approximately $6.3 million in grants.
Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration
Grant Program: In FY2019, ED provided Mental
Health Service Professional Demonstration grants to 27
SEAs and LEAs totaling approximately $11.15 million
to support partnerships that will train school-based
mental health service providers to serve in schools
located in high-need LEAs.
Other ED Resources on School Safety
In addition to grant programs to support school safety, ED
maintains resources that could be helpful to policymakers
who want to understand more about this issue, or parents,
teachers, and school administrators who want to explore
ways to enhance the safety of their local schools and IHEs.
ED operates centers that provide information and technical
assistance on school safety and produces reports and data
products on school safety and security, including the
following:
The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools
Technical Assistance (REMS TA) Center, which builds
the “preparedness capacity” of schools, LEAs, IHEs, and
their community partners and provides information,
resources, and services in the field of K-12 and higher
education emergency operations planning. The REMS TA
Center received $3.1 million in FY2020.
The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning
Environments (NCSSLE), which offers information and
technical assistance to states, LEAs, and schools that
receive Title IV-A SSAE grants. NCSSLE also provides
listings of grants received by each state, as well as by LEAs
within each state, from ED and other federal agencies to
support safe and supportive school-based initiatives. The
NCSSLE received $1.5 million in FY2020.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, which is a report
produced jointly by ED’s National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
in and the U.S. Department of Justice
(DOJ). This report
presents federal data on school
conditions, school crime, and school security measures crime and student safety,
based on information drawn from a variety of data sources,
including national surveys of students, teachers, and
principals conducted by ED, DOJ, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Topics covered in
the report include student and teacher victimization,
bullying and cyberbullying, school conditions, fights,
weapons, student use of drugs and alcohol, student
perceptions of personal safety at school, and safety and
security measures implemented by public schools and DOJ.
Other CRS Resources on School Safety
CRS Report R45251, School Resource Officers: Issues
for Congress;
CRS In Focus IF10836, Department of Justice Support
for School Safety Initiatives; and
CRS In Focus IF10882, Department of Homeland
Security Resources for School Security and Safety
Kyrie E. Dragoo, Analyst in Education Policy
Rebecca R. Skinner, Specialist in Education Policy
CRS In Focus IF10910, Student Support and Academic
Enrichment (SSAE) Grants
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IF10992
Department of Education Support for School Safety Initiatives
Rebecca R. Skinner, Specialist in Education Policy
Kyrie E. Dragoo, Analyst in Education Policy
IF10992
Disclaimer
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10992 · VERSION 2 · NEW3 · UPDATED