S. 2779 — what changed

“2215. Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices

“(a) Establishment

“(1) In general—The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall establish a Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices (in this section referred to as the “Clearinghouse”) within the Department.

“(2) Purpose—The Clearinghouse shall be the primary resource of the Federal Government to identify and publish the best practices and recommendations for school safety for use by State and local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, State and local law enforcement agencies, health professionals, and the general public.

“(3) Personnel

“(A) Assignments—The Clearinghouse shall be assigned such personnel and resources as the Secretary considers appropriate to carry out this section.

“(B) Detailees—The Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services may detail personnel to the Clearinghouse.

“(4) Exemptions

“(A) Paperwork Reduction Act—Chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the “Paperwork Reduction Act”) shall not apply to any rulemaking or information collection required under this section.

“(B) Federal Advisory Committee Act—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply for the purposes of carrying out this section.

“(b) Clearinghouse contents

“(1) Consultation—In identifying the best practices and recommendations for the Clearinghouse, the Secretary may consult with appropriate Federal, State, local, Tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations.

“(2) Criteria for best practices and recommendations—The best practices and recommendations of the Clearinghouse shall, at a minimum—

changed “(A) involve comprehensive school safety measures, including threat prevention, preparedness, protection, mitigation, incident response, and recoveryand recovery to improve the safety posture of a school upon implementation; and

changed “(B) include information on Federal grant programs for which implementation any evidence or research rationale supporting the determination of each the Clearinghouse that the best practice or recommendation is an eligible use for has been shown to have a significant effect on improving the program.health, safety, and welfare of persons in school settings, including—

changed “(3) Past Commission recommendations—To the greatest extent practicable, the Clearinghouse shall present, as appropriate, Federal, State, local, Tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental organization issued best practices and recommendations and identify any best practice “(i) evidence from an experimental or recommendation of the Clearinghouse that was previously issued by any such organization.quasi-experimental study;

added “(ii) high-quality research findings or a positive evaluation that such activity, strategy, or intervention is likely to improve the health, safety, and welfare of persons in school settings;

added “(iii) findings and data from previous Federal or State commissions relating to school climate, health, safety, and welfare; or

added “(iv) any other supporting evidence or findings relied upon by the Clearinghouse in determining best practices and recommendations; and

added “(B)(C) include information on Federal grant programs for which implementation of each best practice or recommendation is an eligible use for the program.

added “(3) Past Commission recommendations—To the greatest extent practicable, the Clearinghouse shall present, as appropriate, Federal, State, local, Tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental organization issued best practices and recommendations and identify any best practice or recommendation of the Clearinghouse that was previously issued by any such organization or commission.

“(c) Assistance and training—The Secretary may produce and publish materials on the Clearinghouse to assist and train educational agencies and law enforcement agencies on the implementation of the best practices and recommendations.

“(d) Continuous improvement—The Secretary shall—

“(1) collect for the purpose of continuous improvement of the Clearinghouse—

“(A) Clearinghouse data analytics; and

“(B) user feedback on the implementation of resources, best practices, and recommendations identified by the Clearinghouse; and

added “(C) any evaluations conducted on the best practices and recommendations of the Clearinghouse; and

“(2) in coordination with the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General—

“(A) regularly assess and identify Clearinghouse best practices and recommendations for which there are no resources provided by Federal Government programs for implementation; and

“(B) establish an external advisory board, which shall be comprised of appropriate State, local, private sector, and nongovernmental organizations, including organizations representing parents of elementary and secondary school students, to—

“(i) provide feedback on the implementation of best practices and recommendations of the Clearinghouse; and

“(ii) propose additional recommendations for best practices for inclusion in the Clearinghouse.

“(e) Parental Assistance—The Clearinghouse shall produce materials to assist parents and legal guardians of students with identifying relevant Clearinghouse resources and engaging with appropriate officials to support the implementation of Clearinghouse best practices and recommendations.”