Sponsors (7)
Official title: To authorize grants to establish a national education protection and advocacy program to enforce the rights and protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Mark James Desaulnier · Last progress March 25, 2026
The bill expands federally funded advocacy, safety reforms, and capacity-building to better protect students with disabilities and enforce civil‑rights laws, while increasing federal spending and imposing potential administrative and cost pressures on schools, advocacy programs, and taxpayers.
People with disabilities and students gain stronger access to funded advocacy and enforcement of IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA in schools and educational settings, increasing their ability to obtain remedies and representation.
Local protection-and-advocacy systems receive dedicated federal funding (with no matching requirement), lowering financial barriers to provide legal, investigatory, and representation services.
Grants target elimination of harmful practices such as seclusion and restraint, improving health and safety for students — particularly students with disabilities — in educational settings.
Expanding investigatory and enforcement authority and funded advocacy may lead to more legal actions and compliance costs for schools and districts, increasing financial and operational burdens on education providers.
The bill creates new federal spending that could increase costs for taxpayers without a specific fixed appropriation amount, leaving long‑term fiscal effects uncertain.
Protection-and-advocacy systems may face increased administrative burden to comply with application, reporting, and oversight requirements tied to the grants.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Department of Education grant program to fund State protection and advocacy systems to protect educational rights of people with disabilities.
Creates a federal grant program at the Department of Education to fund State protection and advocacy systems so they can protect and advocate for the educational rights of children, youth, and adults with disabilities under IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA. Grants may be used for monitoring educational settings, investigating abuse or neglect, opposing unsafe practices like seclusion and restraint, pursuing individual and systemic remedies, and collaborating with parent training centers. Specifies recipient authority and investigative powers by cross-reference to existing protection and advocacy law, defines key terms, and sets allowable uses of funds; it does not set funding amounts, application deadlines, or detailed eligibility criteria beyond the statutory definition of protection and advocacy systems.