Sponsors (18)
The bill substantially strengthens protections, training, transparency, and accountability to reduce harmful seclusion and restraint—especially for students with disabilities—but imposes significant administrative and financial burdens, leaves some coverage gaps, and may cause uneven implementation and privacy/accountability trade‑offs.
Students with disabilities and other students in federally funded programs will face fewer occurrences of seclusion and physical restraint because the bill bans most seclusion and sets narrow limits on restraints.
Schools and educators will receive required, state‑certified crisis intervention training and funding/technical assistance to implement evidence‑based positive behavioral interventions (PBIS), trauma‑informed care, and de‑escalation practices, improving school climate and safer responses to crises.
Parents and families will get more transparency and involvement through mandatory reporting, 24‑hour notifications for serious incidents, public state reporting (disaggregated), and required post‑incident meetings.
State education agencies, local school districts, Head Start programs and taxpayers will face substantial new administrative and training costs (initial certification, periodic recertification, reporting, site visits, assessments) and ongoing federal appropriations may be required.
Smaller private/nonpublic providers and under‑resourced SEAs/LEAs may struggle to meet compliance requirements (training, reporting, monitoring) and competitive/discretionary grant funding may not cover costs, producing uneven implementation and leaving some students less protected.
Gaps and inconsistencies remain: some staff (e.g., security guards/SROs) may be excluded from 'program personnel,' private and home schools without federal support remain exempt, and law enforcement can still arrest students—leading to inconsistent protections and potential continued criminalization of incidents.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Bans unlawful seclusion and restraint in federally funded schools and Head Start, requires training/oversight/reporting, enables investigations and private suits, and funds implementation.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Christopher Murphy · Last progress December 11, 2025
Stops schools and federally funded child programs from using unlawful seclusion or restraint on students and Head Start children, defines what counts as unlawful, and sets national standards for training, reporting, oversight, and enforcement. It requires states and local agencies to adopt plans, track and publish data on restraint and seclusion, notify officials after serious injuries, allows families to sue programs for violations, and directs federal agencies to monitor and report on progress.