Sponsors
The bill centralizes reporting, definitions, and oversight to substantially reduce educator sexual misconduct and improve student safety, but it does so at the cost of significant privacy, reputational, administrative, and fiscal burdens—especially for educators and local schools—while reducing local flexibility.
Students (K–12) and their families gain stronger protection because schools must check a national educator-misconduct registry, reporting is faster, and NDAs that hide substantiated misconduct are prohibited—reducing rehiring of educators with substantiated sexual misconduct.
Teachers, school staff, and school systems receive standardized federal definitions, mandated training, and clearer regulatory guidance, which should increase awareness of grooming/professional boundaries and improve consistent identification and reporting of misconduct.
State education agencies, school districts, and Congress gain centralized data, annual reports, and technical assistance that improve oversight, reveal trends and high‑risk indicators, and help target prevention and child-protection efforts.
Educators face substantial privacy, reputational, and due-process risks because disciplinary records and registry entries are centralized and retained—erroneous or overturned findings could still create long-term employment barriers.
School districts and state education agencies will incur significant administrative and financial costs to implement standardized training, reporting, registry submissions, and compliance—potentially straining budgets and risking loss of federal grant eligibility for violations.
Centralizing sensitive misconduct and investigation data raises data-security and privacy risks for students, victims, and staff if access controls and safeguards are insufficient, potentially exposing highly personal information.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal registry of educator misconduct, requires rapid reporting and hiring checks, mandates training, and establishes a federal task force to analyze data and assist States.
Introduced December 9, 2025 by Wesley Hunt · Last progress December 9, 2025
Creates a federal National Educator Misconduct and Discipline Registry (NEMDR) to collect and share records of educator sexual misconduct and related disciplinary actions, requires fast local and state reporting to the registry, mandates educator training on boundaries and reporting, and forms a federal task force to analyze data and offer recommendations. Schools and authorized agencies must query the registry for every hiring decision involving student contact; failure to comply can lead to loss of federal education grant eligibility, civil penalties, and required corrective action plans. The Department of Education (in coordination with the Attorney General) will run the registry, set rules, and publish annual reports; training and reporting rules take effect 12 months after enactment and the registry must be fully operational within 24 months.