Student Success Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, to add a section on restorative justice and conflict resolution, allowing States to award grants for professional development in those areas.
This amendment allows more flexibility to States by expanding the types of training that can be paid by title II funds, which would be used to make sure teachers and administrators have sufficient training opportunities. The amendment doesn't add any cost to the bill.
Numerous studies have shown that once students enter the juvenile justice system, they are more likely to be arrested as adults. Rather than feeding the school-to-prison pipeline, this amendment offers a means to train teachers and administrators on how to address disciplinary problems by means other than simply suspending or expelling students. When students are away from the classroom because of suspensions or expulsions, they are more likely to get in trouble with law enforcement.
Many LEAs have moved away from zero tolerance policies because students were being suspended or expelled from the classroom for relatively minor behavior. An example was a student who used his hand to simulate a gun and was suspended and another situation where a child brought a Nerf-style gun to school and was reported to the police. These types of incidents hurt the students, cost society more money in the long run, and cost us human beings.
This amendment would help by providing a means to fund the training necessary to establish disciplinary policies and procedures that don't treat each infraction the same, often with excessive punishment. Restorative justice and conflict resolution programs work to address the cause of disciplinary problems and repair any harm that has been done. Evidence suggests those restorative justice programs work, and they save money in the long run because incarcerating youth is expensive. A report released by the Justice Policy Institute in 2014 showed incarcerating a child can exceed $400 a day--or nearly $150,000 a year.
Many of our Nation's most vulnerable youth are swept into the justice system as a result of the current overreliance on policing in our schools. This needs to stop. From Pennsylvania to California, schools have been seeing reductions in disciplinary infractions and suspensions because of the program's usage, and it has been used in many communities around the country but needs to be used in more.
There are many organizations that support, in this country, restorative justice and this amendment. The NEA, the AFT, the Peace Alliance, National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, Dignity in Schools, and the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution have all written in support of this amendment.
If this amendment becomes law, teachers and school administrators have the opportunity and resources to address disciplinary problems in ways other than suspension, expulsion, or involving law enforcement. More flexibility will go to LEAs and save money in the long term. CBO has said the amendment does not add cost.
I appreciate the opportunity to present this amendment, which will help numerous students stay on the path to graduation and a crime-free life. I ask my fellow Members to support it.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, in the process of thanking Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Scott and the Committee on Education and the Workforce and Chairman Sessions and Ranking Member Slaughter and the rest of the Committee on Rules, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), the ranking member.
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