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Senate ESEA Rejects LGBT Anti-Discrimination Amendment as School Bullying Is on the Rise

By ASBO USA posted 07-21-2015 08:27

  

Last week, the Senate passed its Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill, the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA), 87–17. Senators accepted more than 60 amendments and rejected 13, one of which was proposed by Senator Al Franken (D-MN), the “Student Non-Discrimination Act.” The amendment aimed to end discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools by providing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students with similar legal protections as available to other students under federal civil rights laws, but with a final vote of 52–45, failed to clear the required 60-vote threshold to pass. In response, 64 Democratic lawmakers signed a plea to the Department of Education (ED) asking Secretary Arne Duncan to protect LGBT students from school bullying and discrimination.

EdWeek notes that many Republicans rejected the amendment because they were concerned it would “create a litany of lawsuits” and that “the federal government shouldn’t define who’s covered in an anti-discrimination amendment.” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) even urged members to vote no, saying that there’s no doubt there is a bullying problem in schools, “But the question is, is this an argument that's best addressed by local school boards, or state schools boards, or a national school board from Washington? No set of issues is more difficult to deal with on an individual basis... than a case of harassment or school bullying.”

Yet as Congress remains divided over who should be responsible for creating and enforcing anti-bullying policies to protect LGBT students in public schools, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) released a timely report on LGBT school bullying policies, “Statehouse to Schoolhouse: Anti-Bullying Policy Efforts in U.S. States and School Districts.” The report says, “School-based bullying and harassment are serious problems affecting our nation’s youth, and school districts, state legislatures, and state educational agencies play vital roles in ensuring safe and supportive learning environments for all students.... Although all students are at risk for experiencing bullying and harassment, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students are at particular risk.”

In the report, GLSEN examines anti-bullying policies in all 13,181 school districts across the U.S., and notes which districts actually have anti-bullying policies (including specific LGBT protection policies), which districts require professional development (PD) for educators and district accountability for incidents, and whether district policies have an impact on improving school climates for LGBT students. Here are some key findings: 

  • Nearly 30% of all U.S. school districts don’t have an anti-bullying policy. Of districts that do, fewer than half (42.6%) provide specific policies that protect students based on their sexual orientation, and only 14.1% protect students based on “gender identity and/or gender expression.”

  • Two of every 10 districts require PD for staff to address bullying and harassment in schools.

  • Anti-bullying policies vary by districts’ region, locality, and community characteristics. LGBT-inclusive policies were likely to be found in districts “located in the Northeast, non-rural areas, and… communities with higher socioeconomic status.”

  • Only 2% of districts have comprehensive policies for “LGBT enumeration, professional development requirements, and [district] accountability stipulations.”

  • Almost 39% of districts in states with anti-bullying laws do not provide sexual orientation protections in their anti-bullying policies; 60% don’t provide specific gender identity/expression protections; 76% aren’t required to invest in bullying prevention PD; and 55% of districts don’t have accountability provisions in their policies for reporting incidents.

For more school bullying statistics in school districts across the U.S., read the full report. The information should be of particular use to district and school leaders, as the Department of Education has been requested to release more guidance for schools on protecting LGBT students in the future. ED is already asking students how to create safer schools and communities for LGBT youth as recently as last week, and New York’s Education Department released its own gender protection guidelines for schools yesterday.

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