Sponsors (13)
The bill redirects federal K–12 safety policy and funds toward counselors, trauma‑informed care, and restorative practices—potentially improving supports for marginalized students—while reducing school‑based policing, a shift that could leave gaps in immediate security and create financial, administrative, and equity challenges for some districts.
Students (especially low-income and marginalized youth) would gain much greater access to counselors, psychologists, social workers, and trauma‑informed, evidence‑based behavioral supports through a $5 billion grant program that prioritizes high‑need LEAs and funds restorative, non‑punitive discipline reforms, likely reducing suspensions and arrests.
Students and families would be less likely to encounter armed or uniformed school‑based officers because the bill reduces federal support for placing law enforcement in schools and redirects some grant funding toward non‑law‑enforcement safety programs.
Parents, students, and communities would have more voice and oversight in school safety planning through required community engagement and stakeholder oversight (including disproportionately affected students/families) and clearer alignment with ESEA definitions, improving local accountability and reducing legal ambiguity.
Students, staff, and families in some districts—particularly high‑crime areas—could face gaps in immediate incident response and reduced perceived safety if school‑based officers are removed before adequate alternative security and staffing are in place.
Local governments, school districts, and taxpayers may incur significant new or shifting costs (hiring/training counselors and clinicians, administrative alignment, replacing lost federal funds), while law enforcement agencies and contractors could lose grant‑funded positions and training revenue.
Because the grant program is competitive and limited, some high‑need districts that want to implement reforms may not receive funding, producing uneven access to supports and widening inequities across districts.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits federal funding for school‑based law enforcement and creates Education Department grants to replace officers with counselors and trauma‑informed staff.
Official title: To divert Federal funding away from supporting the presence of police in schools and toward evidence-based and trauma-informed services that address the needs of marginalized students and improve academic outcomes, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 8, 2025 by Ayanna Pressley · Last progress April 8, 2025
Prohibits federal funds from being used to hire, maintain, or train law enforcement officers stationed in K–12 schools and amends the COPS grant statute to bar use of those grant funds for school-based officers. Establishes a competitive Department of Education grant program to help school districts replace school police with counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists, credible messengers, restorative practices, and trauma‑informed supports, and requires community-centered oversight of grant uses. The bill defines covered programs and covered law enforcement officers, prioritizes funding for districts that already ended school‑based policing or serve high shares of economically disadvantaged students, and lists required and permitted uses of grant funds focused on mental‑health personnel, positive behavioral interventions, restorative justice, and professional development to create safer, inclusive school climates without reliance on the criminal justice system.