A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                     Contact:  Melinda Kitchell Malico    October 26, 1995                                   (202) 401-1008

In a status report transmitted to President Clinton today, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said 47 states and the District of Columbia have passed state laws or enacted policies that provide for "zero tolerance" of weapons in schools and mandate expulsion for students that bring a gun to school.

In an October 1994 directive to Riley, President Clinton stressed the "paramount importance that this Nation's schools be safe, disciplined and conducive to learning." Clinton asked Riley to work with local authorities to help ensure that zero tolerance policies be adopted.

The act requires states to pass laws ordering school districts to expel for at least one year students who bring a firearm to school.

"When our children and their families are afraid to go to and from school and afraid to be in school, learning obviously suffers," Riley said. "It is critical that we continue to do everything we can to ensure that schools provide a secure environment.

"Passage of the Gun-Free Schools Act, President Clinton's strong leadership to ensure vigorous enforcement of zero tolerance policies, and the department s work with states, school districts, law enforcement and educators, are all helping to encourage states to get tough on youth that threaten their own safety and the safety of their peers, teachers and others in the community."

The Gun-Free Schools Act was passed in response to concerns reflected in several recent surveys. For example, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 1995 survey revealed that in the month preceding the survey, more than one in 10 students in grades 8-12 carried some kind of a weapon to school. In a CDC study of school-associated violent deaths between 1992 and 1994, two- thirds of the 105 fatal injuries to students, teachers and community members took place within school boundaries, 29 percent in the school building and 37 percent outdoors on school property. Most incidents, 75 percent, involved the use of firearms.

The 1993 National Household Education Survey, conducted for the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, found that about one-quarter of students in grades 6- 12 worried about becoming victims of crime or threats at school, and at least one in eight students were victimized at school.

The 1993 University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study revealed that more than 15 percent of high school seniors reported being threatened with a weapon at school, and almost 5 percent reported being injured with a weapon at school. According to the study, only about 5 percent of students attended schools equipped with a metal detector.

"Just when we are getting tough on student crime, however, the Congress has voted to reduce funding for the Safe and Drug- Free Schools Program by 60 percent from the President's $500 million request," Riley said. "Now is not the time for us to retreat from our commitment to our children and to our schools. Never have our children needed us more."

School districts with zero tolerance policies have reported fewer weapons and fewer weapons-related offenses. According to Dade County public school officials, 193 weapons were seized in schools in 1993-94. After enacting a zero tolerance policy, gun seizures declined to 110 in 1994-95.

The act permits flexibility by allowing school districts to apply the expulsion requirement on a case-by-case basis. School districts must also refer students caught with weapons to the criminal justice or juvenile delinquency system. States that did not pass and enact legislation consistent with these provisions by October 20, 1995, risk losing funding for programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Riley said all states are moving toward full compliance. However, Kentucky and Michigan have not yet enacted laws or statewide policies. Kentucky has been granted a waiver because the legislature does not meet until 1996; a law is pending in the Michigan legislature. Also, South Dakota school officials have indicated they will seek changes in the state's law that would bring it into full compliance. The Education Department is seeking more information to determine if laws passed in Colorado, Mississippi and Oklahoma are in full compliance.

No funds will be withheld until states have had an opportunity to propose actions to achieve compliance.

The Gun-Free Schools Act is authorized under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994.