Sponsors (49)
Official title: To prohibit and prevent seclusion, mechanical restraint, chemical restraint, and dangerous restraints that restrict breathing, and to prevent and reduce the use of physical restraint in schools, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress December 11, 2025
The bill strengthens protections, training, transparency, and enforcement to reduce harmful seclusion and restraint of students—especially those with disabilities—but does so at measurable cost and administrative burden that may strain small or underfunded districts, raise privacy and implementation equity concerns, and leave some populations outside its protections.
Students (including those with disabilities) face fewer seclusion and restraint incidents and are protected from life‑threatening or contraindicated restraints.
School staff, SROs, and security personnel must complete State‑approved crisis intervention training with renewal and receive technical assistance, improving de‑escalation skills and IDEA/ADA compliance.
Parents, stakeholders, and the public gain greater transparency and oversight through prompt parental notification, public reporting of incidents, 24‑hour injury/death alerts, meetings, and strengthened protection-and-advocacy investigatory authority.
Schools, districts, and state agencies will incur substantial new costs for training, certification/recertification, monitoring, reporting, and implementation that may divert funds from classrooms or local priorities.
Smaller, rural, or underfunded districts and programs may struggle to meet certification, staffing, monitoring, and application requirements, producing uneven implementation and limited access to services for some students.
Enforcement tools (withholding federal funds, litigation exposure, and administrative actions) could disrupt services for enrolled children and create operational risks for programs that fail to meet standards.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Bans unlawful seclusion and certain restraints in federally assisted schools and Head Start, requires training, state plans, reporting, and creates a private right of action; authorizes $40M/year (FY2026–2030).
Prohibits unlawful seclusion and restraint of students in federally assisted schools and Head Start programs, defines prohibited practices, requires state plans, data collection, training standards, incident reporting, and provides a private right of action for affected students and families. It funds federal implementation and requires a national assessment and regular state reporting to reduce harmful uses of seclusion and physical restraint and to promote positive behavioral supports. The law sets precise definitions (chemical, mechanical, physical restraint, seclusion, time-out), mandates state‑approved crisis intervention training and renewal for program personnel and school law enforcement, creates monitoring and enforcement duties for State Education Agencies and federal agencies (including HHS for Head Start), and authorizes $40 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2030 to carry out the statute.