Sponsors (7)
The bill aims to improve equity and student mental-health supports through guidance, training, and a short-term commission, but delivers mostly nonbinding recommendations that will require significant funding and follow-up action to avoid uneven implementation and financial strain on underfunded districts.
Students of color will gain greater access to culturally competent mental and behavioral health services via expanded guidance, training materials, and professional development tailored to their needs.
Students and school staff will get recommended psychologist-to-student and counselor-to-student ratios and related guidance, which can lower caseloads, speed access to counseling, and enable more teacher consultation.
Students (particularly marginalized groups) and educators will receive standardized training and definitions for restorative practices and culturally competent professional development, which can reduce suspensions, lower disciplinary disparities, and improve equitable learning climates.
School districts and taxpayers may face increased costs to expand mental-health services, professional development, and to establish/operate the commission, potentially requiring new appropriations, reallocations, or higher local taxes.
Rural and underfunded school districts may be unable to meet recommended staffing ratios or absorb added program costs, forcing trade-offs with other services or leaving students without promised supports.
Students and schools may see limited or uneven benefits because the bill relies on nonbinding recommendations, a time-limited commission that terminates after its final report, and implementation that depends on further funding, agency action, or congressional follow-up.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes an interagency commission to define restorative justice practices, create training, and recommend culturally competent mental-health supports and staffing ratios for K–12 schools.
Official title: To authorize the Secretary of Education, in collaboration with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to establish an interagency advisory Commission on Advancing Restorative Justice in Elementary and Secondary Education, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Bonnie Watson Coleman · Last progress April 16, 2026
Creates an interagency commission to define and promote restorative justice practices in elementary and secondary schools and to recommend culturally competent mental-health supports and school psychologist/counselor staffing ratios. The commission will develop training materials, guidance, and annual reports over a four-year period and terminate shortly after delivering a final report.