This legislation aims to keep students in class and end harsh, unfair school discipline that pushes kids—especially girls of color—out of school. It focuses on cutting discriminatory use of suspensions and expulsions, reducing lost learning time, and preventing the criminalization of students.
It also requires the Education Department’s civil rights office to collect and publish yearly data on suspensions, expulsions, transfers, referrals to law enforcement, arrests, and more—broken down by grade and student groups. The report must flag schools and districts with patterns of overuse or discrimination, be public in multiple languages, and protect student privacy.
- Who is affected: All public preschools, elementary, and secondary schools; with a special focus on students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQI+ students, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, and students in foster care.
- New grants: Creates competitive “Healing School Climate” grants for school districts and nonprofits to reduce overuse and disparities in discipline.
- Limits on discipline: For preschool–grade 5, bans out-of-school suspension or expulsion unless someone is in serious physical danger. For all grades, bans suspension or expulsion for things like defiance, vulgar language, truancy, tardiness, chronic absenteeism, or grooming/appearance rules. Ends corporal punishment, seclusion (locking a student alone in a room), and mechanical or chemical restraints. Physical restraint is allowed only in emergencies and with strict safeguards and trained staff.
- What schools can fund: Training in trauma‑informed practices, restorative practices, and social‑emotional learning; hiring counselors and mental health staff; mentoring, extracurriculars, and school climate surveys. Funds cannot be used to hire school police, buy surveillance tech, arm staff, or enter data‑sharing deals with DHS or law enforcement.
- Task force: Sets up a 21‑member joint task force (no law enforcement) with students, parents, educators, school officials, civil rights advocates, mental health experts, and researchers to study causes and solutions and report to Congress.
- When: First public discipline data report within 1 year of enactment and every year after; task force members appointed within 60 days and first report due within 360 days, then every two years; grantees report after 1 year.
- Funding: Authorizes $500 million per year for the grants and task force, plus $500 million per year for the civil rights office to handle the data work.
