Federal

Congress Again Tries to Pass Eagles Act, Focused on School Shootings After Parkland

By Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald & Carli Teproff, Miami Herald — February 24, 2021 2 min read
Suzanne Devine Clark, an art teacher at Deerfield Beach Elementary School, places painted stones at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2019 during the first anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A group of bipartisan Congressional lawmakers is once again trying to get a law passed aimed at preventing school violence.

On Tuesday, the group introduced the Eagles Act, which lawmakers have failed to pass in previous years. The act, named after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mascot, honors the 17 people who lost their lives in the February 2018 mass shooting at the Parkland high school.

If enacted, the act would expand the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center to have a greater focus on school violence prevention nationally.

The NTAC was created in 1998 to develop indicators for various types of targeted violence, including school violence. Since 2002, the Secret Service has trained 198,000 school officials.

“The U.S. Secret Service has unique and unparalleled experience in identifying threats to safety and preventing tragedies,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a news release. “This bill builds on the Secret Service’s case study research on targeted school violence and enables the National Threat Assessment Center to train more of our nation’s schools in how to conduct threat assessments and early interventions.”

The legislation was reintroduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. House Representatives Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).

“As I have continuously stated, school safety is a top priority of mine, and I will not cease in my efforts to make our schools a safer place,” said Diaz-Balart in a news release. “The EAGLES Act is an essential step toward better protecting our communities, our schools, and our children from potential acts of targeted violence.”

Deutch, who represents Parkland, agreed that something needs to be done.

“The federal government has a role to play in school safety, and we should be leveraging our best resources to keeping our kids safe,” said Deutch in a news release. “By building on the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center model, schools and community leaders can receive training on how to prevent and respond to school violence.”

The Senate companion bill was introduced by Senators Grassley, Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine.).

“I’m pleased to again join my colleagues in reintroducing the EAGLES Act,” Rubio said in a release. “The EAGLES Act leverages the National Threat Assessment Center to provide a proactive and multi-pronged approach to identify and stop threats of school violence. I thank Senator Grassley for his continued leadership on this legislation, and the Senate should quickly pass this bill.”

The EAGLES Act had been introduced in 2018 and 2019. The 2019 act had sponsorship from Deutch and Grassley. The House bill had 25 co-sponsors and the Senate bill had seven. Both bills were only introduced. No other action was taken.

Copyright (c) 2021, Miami Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Admin. Starts Moving CTE to Labor Dept. After Supreme Court Order
The Education Department put arrangements to move some of its programs on hold while court battles over downsizing played out.
4 min read
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022. The Trump administration is shifting management of career and technical education programs to the U.S. Department of Labor now that the Supreme Court have given the go-ahead to proceed with downsizing of the U.S. Department of Education.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week
Federal Hope Shattered for Laid-Off Ed. Dept. Staff After Supreme Court Order
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with 1,400 Education Department layoffs.
6 min read
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025.
Supporters hold signs and cheer Education Department employees as they leave after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington on March 24, 2025. The Supreme Court on July 14, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to proceed with department layoffs that a lower-court judge had put on hold.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Trump Admin. Says Undocumented Students Can't Attend Head Start, Early College
The administration issued notices saying undocumented immigrants don't qualify for Head Start and some Education Department programs.
7 min read
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration said Thursday that undocumented children are ineligible for Head Start and a number of other federally funded programs that the administration is classifying as similar to welfare benefits.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Federal How Medicaid, SNAP Changes in Trump's Big Budget Bill Could Affect Schools
The bill will stress a major funding stream schools rely on, leading to ripple effects that make it harder for schools to offer free meals.
6 min read
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. The bill cuts federal spending for Medicaid and food stamps—cuts that stand to affect students and trickle down to schools.
Evan Vucci/AP