News

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced legislation to create a Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices to help schools and their faculty, parents, and community officials identify school safety measures and resources for implementing them.
 
“After the tragedy in Parkland, I was proud to work closely with the parents and families to help ensure school districts have a reliable central authority or clearinghouse where they can find evidence-based and successful models for school safety measures. I also led a bipartisan and bicameral effort to urge the federal commission on school safety to include such a clearinghouse in their recommendations, which they ultimately did. There is an immense need to make a central point of information available to states and local education agencies on ways to improve school safety, and creating a Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices would fulfill that need,” Rubio said. “Congress should act swiftly to pass this bill, as well as my bipartisan Red Flag proposal and threat assessment legislation, both of which would help to prevent future senseless acts of violence.”
 
“Luke Hoyer, Alex Schachter, and 15 others lost their lives in a senseless act of violence in Parkland, Florida. Their parents, together with others who have lost loved ones in mass murders, have worked tirelessly to find nonpartisan, commonsense solutions to prevent or limit future tragedies,” Johnson said. “This bill honors the memory of all those who have needlessly lost their lives and is a proactive step to help mitigate this horrific violence.  I encourage all parents to ask what their child’s school is doing to protect their students and demand action if they believe their school isn’t doing these simple steps recommended by the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices.”
 
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the 17 souls that were taken from us in a brutal act of violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Following the tragedy, I worked with the families of the victims, including Max Schachter and Tom and Gena Hoyer, to pass the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act to make our schools safer and prevent future tragedies,” Scott said. “Today, I’m proud to sponsor the Luke and Alex School Safety Act, which honors two of the victims, Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, and continues our efforts to keep our schools safe so no family ever has to experience a tragedy like this again.”

Background: 

• The legislation will codify and structure a Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices within DHS/CISA.
  • Acknowledge the efforts of past commissions by populating the Clearinghouse with recommendations for comprehensive school safety measures, including threat prevention, preparedness, protection, mitigation, incident response, and recovery to improve the safety posture of a school upon implementation.
  • Specify criteria for best practices and recommendations and a process for continuous improvement and updating of Clearinghouse so it remains relevant, easy to use, and does not become an enormous data bank wish list.
  • Review all grant programs administered by the Departments of Education, HHS, DOJ, and DHS to identify those that may be used for school security improvements and to identify any Clearinghouse items that are not currently supported by any existing grant program.
  • Require the Attorney General and the Secretaries of Education, HHS, and DHS to notify their respective counterparts at the state level and other relevant stakeholders, including parents, of the School Safety Clearinghouse.
  • Identify which state officials are responsible for school safety, as well as any grant program that may be used to award grants for the purposes of implementing best practices and recommendations of the Clearinghouse.