A bill (H.R. 5123) encouraging states to use federal funds for school safety telephone hotlines received the House’s voice vote approval on September 12. The bill would require the Secretary of Education to notify states that they can establish and maintain the toll-free hotlines with funds appropriated under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The ESEA represents the federal government’s contribution to public education for grades K-12. According to the legislation, the hotlines would provide students, parents, and school personnel a venue for reporting to law enforcement officers any “suspicious, violent, or threatening behavior related to schools or school functions.” The bill includes several statistics on school safety, including: “For the complete school year of July 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998, there were 58 school-associated violent deaths that resulted from 46 incidents; 46 of these violent deaths were homicides, 11 were suicides, and 1 teenager was killed by a law enforcement officer in the course of duty.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), described the hotline created in his home state following last year’s violent episode at Columbine High School, which is located in his district. He said that state law enforcement entities, the state education department, and telephone service providers work together to maintain the 24-hour hotline. “As of September 5, the Colorado school safety hotline has taken over 600 calls, including 80 that were in the nature of a threat,” he said, adding: “Establishing hotlines will hopefully prevent future tragedy, and are just one of the many actions we can take to help make our schools safer.”
H.R. 5123 was considered a day after the Federal Trade Commission released its report on the effects of media violence on children, which was commissioned in the wake of the Colorado school shooting (see related story on page 8).
