Sponsors (47)
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress December 11, 2025
The bill strongly increases protections, training, transparency, and enforcement to reduce harmful seclusion and restraints in schools and Head Start programs, but it also creates new administrative, financial, privacy, and implementation burdens that may strain underfunded districts and leave some children (private/homeschooled) without coverage.
Students (including students with disabilities) will face fewer uses of seclusion and physical restraints because the bill bans dangerous/contraindicated practices and requires prevention policies and monitoring.
School staff, SROs, security guards, and Head Start personnel must get state‑approved crisis intervention training (with renewal) and schools are encouraged to adopt evidence‑based approaches (PBIS, de‑escalation), improving de‑escalation skills and safer school climates.
Federal grants and appropriations (including $40M/year FY2026–2030 and multi-year subgrants) fund implementation—training, PBIS, mental‑health supports, and technical assistance—making it easier for some districts to adopt alternatives to restraints.
School districts, Head Start agencies, and state/local education agencies will incur recurring costs for training, certification, monitoring, reporting, and administration, diverting funds from classrooms or requiring new local spending.
Rural, small, and underfunded districts may struggle to meet certification, staffing, monitoring, and application requirements, producing uneven implementation or reduced program capacity in some communities.
Increased reporting, documentation, and procedural requirements raise privacy risks for families of restrained students and add administrative burdens to programs.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits unlawful seclusion/restraint in federally funded schools and Head Start, requires state plans, training, reporting, enforcement rights for families, and authorizes $40M/year (2026–2030).
Prohibits unlawful seclusion and certain types of physical, mechanical, and chemical restraints on students in federally assisted schools and Head Start programs, and creates new state reporting, training, monitoring, and enforcement rules. It requires State educational agencies to submit plans and annual reports, mandates crisis‑intervention training and data collection, authorizes federal funding, and gives families a private right of action against programs that use unlawful seclusion or restraint.