Securing Our Schools Act of 2023
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Securing Our Schools Act of 2023
This bill provides funding and resources to (1) strengthen security on school premises, and (2) provide access to student mental health resources. It also generally prohibits the use of federal funding provided by this bill for abortions.
Specifically, the bill provides specified funds through FY2033 to the Department of Education (ED) for Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants. It also directs ED to use a portion of these funds to strengthen security on school premises.
The bill reauthorizes through FY2029 the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and revises the program, including by increasing grant amounts for administrative costs and technical assistance.
Further, the bill allows funds under the Community Oriented Policing Services grant program to be used to pay for school resource officers and improve physical security at schools.
Additionally, the bill transfers
specified funds under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to ED to establish the Student Access to Mental Health Program Fund, through which ED must award grants to states to support the salary of a mental health professional in eligible schools; and specified unobligated funds under the ARP Act to support certain mental health programs of ED, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Government Accountability Office must conduct a study on mental health providers in schools.
The bill transfers specified unobligated funds that were provided to address COVID-19 to ED to carry out this bill.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 30, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 30, 2023: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced it on March 30, 2023, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 30, 2023, 1260 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1260 days ago, on March 30, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers