I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2738
To reduce exclusionary discipline practices in schools, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL8, 2025
Ms. P
RESSLEY(for herself, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Ms. OMAR, Mrs.
B
EATTY, Mr. CASAR, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, Ms.
N
ORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. THANEDAR, and Ms.
T
LAIB) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To reduce exclusionary discipline practices in schools, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ending Punitive, Un-4
fair, School-based Harm that is Overt and Unresponsive 5
to Trauma Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘Ending PUSHOUT Act 6
of 2025’’. 7
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 8
It is the purpose of this Act to— 9
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(1) strengthen data collection related to exclu-1
sionary discipline practices in schools and the dis-2
criminatory application of such practices, which dis-3
proportionately pushes students of color, particularly 4
girls of color, out of school; 5
(2) eliminate the discriminatory use and over-6
use of exclusionary discipline practices based on ac-7
tual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, national ori-8
gin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender iden-9
tity, pregnancy, childbirth, a medical condition re-10
lated to pregnancy or childbirth, parenting status, or 11
other stereotype related to sex), or disability; 12
(3) eliminate all unnecessary loss of instruc-13
tional time due to unsound or excessive use of for-14
mal and informal disciplinary removal from instruc-15
tional settings; and 16
(4) prevent the criminalization and pushout of 17
students from school, especially Black and Brown 18
girls, as a result of educational barriers that include 19
discrimination, adultification, punitive discipline poli-20
cies and practices, and a failure to recognize and 21
support students with mental health needs or experi-22
encing trauma. 23
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 24
In this Act: 25
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(1) ACT OF INSUBORDINATION .—The term ‘‘act 1
of insubordination’’ means an act that disrupts a 2
school activity or instance when a student willfully 3
defies the valid authority of a school official. 4
(2) A
PPEARANCE OR GROOMING POLICY .—The 5
term ‘‘appearance or grooming policy’’ means any 6
practice, policy, or portion of a student conduct code 7
that governs or restricts the appearance of students, 8
including policies that— 9
(A) restrict or prescribe clothing that a 10
student may wear (including hijabs, headwraps, 11
or bandanas); 12
(B) restrict specific hair styles (such as 13
braids, locs, twists, Bantu knots, cornrows, ex-14
tensions, or afros); or 15
(C) restrict whether or how a student may 16
apply make-up, nail polish, or other cosmetics. 17
(3) C
HEMICAL RESTRAINT .—The term ‘‘chem-18
ical restraint’’ means a drug or medication used on 19
a student to control behavior or restrict freedom of 20
movement that is not— 21
(A) prescribed by a licensed physician, or 22
other qualified health professional acting under 23
the scope of the professional’s authority under 24
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State law, for the standard treatment of a stu-1
dent’s medical or psychiatric condition; and 2
(B) administered as prescribed by a li-3
censed physician or other qualified health pro-4
fessional acting under the scope of the author-5
ity of a health professional under State law. 6
(4) C
ORPORAL PUNISHMENT .—The term ‘‘cor-7
poral punishment’’ means, with respect to a student, 8
a deliberate act which causes the student to feel 9
physical pain for the purpose of discipline, including 10
an act of physical force, such as striking, spanking, 11
or paddling, inflicted on a student’s body, requiring 12
a student to assume a painful physical position, or 13
the use of chemical sprays, electroshock weapons, or 14
stun guns on a student’s body. 15
(5) C
ULTURALLY SUSTAINING .—The term ‘‘cul-16
turally sustaining’’ describes educational practices 17
that encourage students to bring their cultural and 18
linguistic assets and life experiences to a school com-19
munity. Culturally sustaining practices incorporate 20
those assets and experiences into coursework and the 21
social fabric of a school. 22
(6) D
IRECT SUPERVISION.—The term ‘‘direct 23
supervision’’ means a student is physically in the 24
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same location as a school official and such student 1
is under the care of the school official or school. 2
(7) D
ISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ means 3
a mental or physical disability that meets the condi-4
tions set forth in clauses (i) and (ii) of section 5
602(3)(A) of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-6
cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3)(A)(i) and (ii)) or in 7
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 8
794). 9
(8) D
ISCIPLINARY ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL .—The 10
term ‘‘disciplinary alternative school’’ means a short- 11
or long-term educational setting to which a student 12
is sent for disciplinary or behavioral reasons for a 13
specified amount of time before being allowed to re-14
turn to their regular school setting. 15
(9) E
LEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 16
ACT TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary school’’, 17
‘‘English learner’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘sec-18
ondary school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ has 19
the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 20
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 21
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 22
(10) E
XCLUSIONARY DISCIPLINE .—The term 23
‘‘exclusionary discipline’’ describes school policies 24
and practices, whether formal or informal action of 25
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school officials or by law enforcement, used to dis-1
cipline students by removing them from their regular 2
learning environment. 3
(11) G
ENDER IDENTITY.—The term ‘‘gender 4
identity’’ means the gender-related identity, appear-5
ance, mannerisms, or other gender-related character-6
istics of an individual regardless of the designated 7
sex at birth of the individual. 8
(12) I
NFORMAL REMOVAL .—The term ‘‘infor-9
mal removal’’ means an administrative removal of a 10
student from the learning environment for part or 11
all of the school day, or an indefinite period of time, 12
without documenting the removal as a suspension or 13
expulsion or engaging in formalized disciplinary 14
processes. 15
(13) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 16
has the meaning given the term in section 4(e) of 17
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist-18
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 19
(14) I
N-SCHOOL SUSPENSION .—The term ‘‘in- 20
school suspension’’ means an instance in which a 21
student is temporarily removed from a regular class-22
room for at least half a day but remains under the 23
direct supervision of a school official. 24
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(15) MECHANICAL RESTRAINT .—The term 1
‘‘mechanical restraint’’ has the meaning given the 2
term in section 595(d)(1) of the Public Health Serv-3
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 290jj(d)(1)), except that the 4
meaning shall be applied by substituting ‘‘student’’ 5
for ‘‘resident’’. 6
(16) M
ULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS .— 7
The term ‘‘multi-tiered system of supports’’ means 8
a comprehensive continuum of evidence-based, sys-9
temic practices to support a rapid response to the 10
needs of students, with regular observation to facili-11
tate data-based instructional decision making. 12
(17) O
UT-OF-SCHOOL SUSPENSION .—The term 13
‘‘out-of-school suspension’’ means an instance in 14
which a student is excluded from their school for 15
disciplinary reasons by temporarily being removed 16
from regular classes to another setting, including a 17
home, virtual school placement, alternative school 18
placement, disciplinary alternative school, or behav-19
ior center, regardless of whether such disciplinary 20
removal is deemed as a suspension by school offi-21
cials. 22
(18) P
HYSICAL ESCORT.—The term ‘‘physical 23
escort’’ has the meaning given the term in section 24
595(d)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 25
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U.S.C. 290jj(d)(2)), except that the meaning shall 1
be applied by substituting ‘‘student’’ for ‘‘resident’’. 2
(19) P
HYSICAL RESTRAINT.—The term ‘‘phys-3
ical restraint’’ means a personal restriction that im-4
mobilizes or reduces the ability of an individual to 5
move the individual’s arms, legs, torso, or head free-6
ly, except that such term does not include a physical 7
escort, mechanical restraint, or chemical restraint. 8
(20) P
OSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS 9
AND SUPPORTS.—The term ‘‘positive behavioral 10
interventions and supports’’ means a schoolwide, 11
systematic approach that embeds evidence-based 12
practices and data-driven decision-making to im-13
prove school climate and culture in order to achieve 14
improved academic and social outcomes and increase 15
learning for all students (including students with the 16
most complex and intensive behavioral needs) and 17
encompasses a range of systemic and individualized 18
positive strategies to teach and reinforce school-ex-19
pected behaviors, while discouraging and diminishing 20
undesirable behaviors. 21
(21) P
USHOUT.—The term ‘‘pushout’’ means 22
an instance when a student leaves elementary, mid-23
dle or secondary school, including a forced transfer 24
to another school, prior to graduating secondary 25
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school due to overuse of exclusionary discipline prac-1
tices, failure to address trauma or other mental 2
health needs, discrimination, or other educational 3
barriers that do not support or promote the success 4
of a student. 5
(22) S
CHOOL-BASED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI -6
CER.—The term ‘‘school-based law enforcement offi-7
cer’’ means an individual who— 8
(A) is— 9
(i) assigned by a law enforcement 10
agency to a secondary or elementary school 11
or local educational agency; 12
(ii) contracting with a secondary or el-13
ementary school or local educational agen-14
cy; or 15
(iii) employed by a secondary or ele-16
mentary school or local educational agency; 17
(B) has the legal power to detain, arrest, 18
issue a citation, perform a custodial investiga-19
tion, or refer a person to a criminal or juvenile 20
court; 21
(C) meets the definition of a law enforce-22
ment personnel under State law; or 23
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(D) may be referred to as a ‘‘school re-1
source officer’’, a ‘‘sworn law enforcement offi-2
cer’’, or a ‘‘school police officer’’. 3
(23) S
CHOOL OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘school of-4
ficial’’ means an educator, school principal, adminis-5
trator, or other personnel, not considered school- 6
based law enforcement, engaged in the performance 7
of duties with respect to a school. 8
(24) S
ECLUSION.—The term ‘‘seclusion’’ means 9
the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a 10
room or area where the student is physically pre-11
vented from leaving, and does not include a time 12
out. 13
(25) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 14
means the Secretary of Education. 15
(26) S
ERIOUS BODILY INJURY.—The term ‘‘se-16
rious bodily injury’’ has the meaning given that term 17
in section 1365(h)(3) of title 18, United States 18
Code. 19
(27) S
EXUAL ORIENTATION.—The term ‘‘sexual 20
orientation’’ means how a person identifies in terms 21
of their emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction, 22
and includes identification as straight, heterosexual, 23
gay, lesbian, or bisexual, among other terms. 24
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(28) SPECIAL EDUCATION SCHOOL .—The term 1
‘‘special education school’’ means a school that fo-2
cuses primarily on serving the needs of students who 3
qualify as ‘‘a child with a disability’’ as that term 4
is defined under section 602(3)(A)(i) of the Individ-5
uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 6
1401(3)(A)(i)) or are subject to section 504 of the 7
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794). 8
(29) T
HREAT ASSESSMENT .—The term ‘‘threat 9
assessment’’ means actions consisting of referrals or 10
meetings initiated by a member of school staff, ad-11
ministrator, school counselor, or educator that in-12
clude law enforcement officers to assess whether a 13
student constitutes a threat or risk to self or others. 14
(30) T
IME OUT.—The term ‘‘time out’’ has the 15
meaning given the term in section 595(d)(5) of the 16
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290jj(d)(5)), 17
except that the meaning shall be applied by sub-18
stituting ‘‘student’’ for ‘‘resident’’. 19
(31) T
RAUMA-INFORMED SERVICES.—The term 20
‘‘trauma-informed services’’ means a service delivery 21
approach that— 22
(A) recognizes and responds to the impacts 23
of trauma with evidence-based supports and 24
intervention; 25
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(B) emphasizes physical, psychological, and 1
emotional safety for both providers of services 2
and survivors of trauma; and 3
(C) creates opportunities for survivors of 4
trauma to rebuild a sense of healing and em-5
powerment. 6
(32) Z
ERO-TOLERANCE POLICY .—The term 7
‘‘zero-tolerance policy’’ is a school discipline policy 8
that results in an automatic disciplinary con-9
sequence, including out-of-school suspension, expul-10
sion, and involuntary school transfer. 11
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING CIVIL RIGHTS DATA COLLECTION 12
WITH RESPECT TO EXCLUSIONARY DIS-13
CIPLINE IN SCHOOLS. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for Civil 15
Rights shall annually carry out data collection, while 16
maintaining appropriate safety and privacy standards, au-17
thorized under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of 18
Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), 19
which shall include data with respect to students enrolled 20
in a public preschool, elementary, or secondary school (in-21
cluding traditional public, charter, virtual, special edu-22
cation school, and alternative schools or placements) who 23
received the following disciplinary actions during the pre-24
ceding school year: 25
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(1) Suspension (including the classification of 1
the suspension as in-school suspension or out-of- 2
school suspension), which shall include data with re-3
spect to— 4
(A) the number of students who were sus-5
pended, disaggregated and cross-tabulated by 6
type of suspension and by— 7
(i) enrollment in a preschool or in an 8
elementary school and secondary school by 9
grade level; 10
(ii) race; 11
(iii) ethnicity; 12
(iv) sex (including, to the extent pos-13
sible, sexual orientation and gender iden-14
tity); 15
(v) low-income status; 16
(vi) disability status (including stu-17
dents eligible for disability under the Indi-18
viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 19
U.S.C. 1401 et. seq.) or section 504 of the 20
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 10 21
794)); 22
(vii) English learner status; 23
(viii) foster care status; 24
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(ix) housing status, to the extent pos-1
sible; 2
(x) Tribal citizenship or descent, in 3
the first or second degree, of an Indian 4
Tribe, to the extent possible; and 5
(xi) pregnant and parenting student 6
status, to the extent possible; 7
(B) the number and length of suspensions; 8
(C) the reason for each such suspension, 9
including— 10
(i) a violation of a zero-tolerance pol-11
icy and whether such violation was due to 12
a violent or nonviolent offense; 13
(ii) a violation of an appearance pol-14
icy, dress code, or grooming policy; 15
(iii) an act of insubordination; 16
(iv) willful defiance; and 17
(v) a violation of a school code of con-18
duct; and 19
(D) the number of days of lost instruction 20
due to each out-of-school and in-school suspen-21
sion. 22
(2) Expulsion, including agreements to with-23
draw a child from school in lieu of an expulsion 24
process, which shall include data with respect to— 25
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(A) the number of students who were ex-1
pelled, disaggregated and cross-tabulated as 2
outlined under clauses (i) through (xi) of sub-3
section (a)(1)(A); and 4
(B) the reason for each such expulsion, in-5
cluding— 6
(i) a violation of a zero-tolerance pol-7
icy and whether such violation was due to 8
a violent or nonviolent offense; 9
(ii) a violation of an appearance pol-10
icy, dress code, or grooming policy; 11
(iii) an act of insubordination, willful 12
defiance, or violation of a school code of 13
conduct; and 14
(iv) the use of profane or vulgar lan-15
guage. 16
(3) The number of students subject to an out- 17
of-school transfer to a different school, including al-18
ternative education placements or a virtual school, 19
disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 20
clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), and 21
the primary reason for each such transfer. 22
(4) The number of students subject to a refer-23
ral to law enforcement or threat assessment process, 24
disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 25
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clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), in-1
cluding the primary reason for each such referral, 2
and whether such referral resulted in an arrest. 3
(5) The number of students arrested at school, 4
including at school-sponsored activities, 5
disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 6
clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), and 7
the primary reason for such arrest. 8
(6) The number of students subject to a refer-9
ral to or placement in a residential facility, including 10
for temporary or short-term holds (such as 48-hour 11
or 72-hour holds) disaggregated and cross-tabulated 12
as outlined under clauses (i) through (xi) of sub-13
section (a)(1)(A). 14
(7) The number of students subject to place-15
ment in juvenile or criminal legal confinement or 16
other institutionalized settings, including diversion 17
to arrest programs and mental and psychiatric pro-18
grams, disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined 19
under clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection 20
(a)(1)(A). 21
(b) R
EPORT.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 23
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-24
nually thereafter, the Assistant Secretary for Civil 25
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Rights shall submit to Congress a report on the data 1
collected under subsection (a). 2
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The report required 3
under paragraph (1) shall— 4
(A) identify, with respect to the data col-5
lected under subsection (a), schools, local edu-6
cational agencies, and States that demonstrate 7
a pattern of the overuse and discriminatory use 8
of exclusionary disciplinary practices; 9
(B) be disaggregated and cross tabulated, 10
except that such disaggregation shall not be re-11
quired in the case of a State, local educational 12
agency, or a school in which the number of stu-13
dents in a subgroup is insufficient to yield sta-14
tistically reliable information or the results 15
would reveal personally identifiable information 16
about an individual student, by— 17
(i) enrollment in a preschool or in an 18
elementary school and secondary school by 19
grade level; 20
(ii) race; 21
(iii) ethnicity; 22
(iv) sex (including, to the extent pos-23
sible, sexual orientation and gender iden-24
tity); 25
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(v) low-income status; 1
(vi) disability status (including stu-2
dents eligible for disability under the Indi-3
viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 4
U.S.C. 1401 et. seq.) or section 504 of the 5
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 6
794)); 7
(vii) English learner status; 8
(viii) foster care status; 9
(ix) housing status, to the extent pos-10
sible; 11
(x) Tribal citizenship or descent, in 12
the first or second degree, of an Indian 13
Tribe; and 14
(xi) pregnant and parenting student 15
status, to the extent possible; 16
(C) be publicly accessible in multiple lan-17
guages, accessibility formats, and provided in a 18
language that parents, families, and community 19
members can understand; and 20
(D) be presented in a manner that protects 21
the privacy of individuals consistent with the re-22
quirements of section 444 of the General Edu-23
cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g), com-24
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monly known as the ‘‘Family Educational 1
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’. 2
SEC. 5. GRANTS TO REDUCE EXCLUSIONARY SCHOOL DIS-3
CIPLINE PRACTICES. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants 5
(which shall be known as the ‘‘Healing School Climate 6
Grants’’), on a competitive basis, to eligible entities for 7
the purpose of reducing the overuse and discriminatory 8
use of exclusionary discipline practices and policies in 9
schools. 10
(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—In this section, the term 11
‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 12
(1) one or more local educational agencies (who 13
may be partnered with a State educational agency), 14
including a public charter school that is a local edu-15
cational agency under State law or local educational 16
agency operated by the Bureau of Indian Education; 17
or 18
(2) a nonprofit organization (defined as an or-19
ganization described in section 501(c)(3) of the In-20
ternal Revenue Code, which is exempt from taxation 21
under section 501(a) of such Code) with a track 22
record of success in improving school climates and 23
supporting students. 24
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(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a grant 1
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-2
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 3
information as the Secretary may require, including an as-4
surance that the eligible entity shall prioritize schools with 5
high rates of disparities in exclusionary discipline, such 6
as suspensions, expulsions, law enforcement referrals, and 7
school-based arrests, for students of color, students with 8
disabilities, LGBTQI+ students, English language learn-9
ers, students experiencing homelessness, students involved 10
in the foster care system, and students living at the inter-11
sections of these identities, and historical patterns of dis-12
parities in exclusionary school discipline. The Secretary 13
shall make applications publicly accessible in an appro-14
priate digital format. 15
(d) P
ROGRAMREQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity 16
that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall prohibit 17
the use of— 18
(1) out-of-school suspension or expulsion for 19
any student in preschool through grade 5 for inci-20
dents that do not involve serious physical injury; 21
(2) out-of-school suspension or expulsion for 22
any student in preschool through grade 12 for insub-23
ordination, willful defiance, vulgarity, truancy, tardi-24
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ness, chronic absenteeism, or as a result of a viola-1
tion of a grooming or appearance policy; 2
(3) corporal punishment; 3
(4) seclusion; 4
(5) a mechanical or chemical restraint on a stu-5
dent; or 6
(6) a physical restraint or physical escort that 7
is life threatening, that restricts breathing, or that 8
restricts blood flow to the brain, including prone and 9
supine restraint, on a student, except when each of 10
the following requirements are met: 11
(A) The student’s behavior poses an immi-12
nent danger of serious physical injury to the 13
student, program personnel, or another indi-14
vidual. 15
(B) Before using physical restraint, less 16
restrictive interventions would be ineffective in 17
stopping such imminent danger of serious phys-18
ical injury. 19
(C) Such physical restraint is imposed 20
by— 21
(i) program personnel trained and cer-22
tified by a State-approved crisis interven-23
tion training program; or 24
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(ii) program personnel not trained 1
and certified as described in clause (i), in 2
the case of a rare and clearly unavoidable 3
emergency circumstance when program 4
personnel certified as described in clause 5
(i) is not immediately available due to the 6
unforeseeable nature of the emergency cir-7
cumstance. 8
(D) Such physical restraint ends imme-9
diately upon the cessation of the imminent dan-10
ger of serious physical injury to the student, 11
any program personnel, or another individual. 12
(E) The physical restraint does not inter-13
fere with the student’s ability to communicate 14
in the student’s primary language or primary 15
mode of communication. 16
(F) During the physical restraint, the least 17
amount of force necessary is used to protect the 18
student or others from the threatened injury. 19
(G) The physical restraint does not affect 20
or interfere with, with respect to a student, a 21
disability, health care needs, or a medical or 22
psychiatric condition documented in a— 23
(i) health care directive or medical 24
management plan; 25
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(ii) a behavior intervention plan; 1
(iii) an individualized education pro-2
gram or an individualized family service 3
plan (as defined in section 602 of the Indi-4
viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 5
U.S.C. 1401)); or 6
(iv) another relevant record made 7
available to the State or eligible entity in-8
volved. 9
(e) U
SE OFFUNDS.— 10
(1) R
EQUIRED USES.—An eligible entity that 11
receives a grant under this section shall use funds 12
to— 13
(A) evaluate the current discipline policies 14
of schools under the eligible entity and, in part-15
nership with students (including girls of color), 16
the family members of students, and the local 17
community of such school, develop discipline 18
policies for such schools to ensure that such 19
policies are not exclusionary or discriminately 20
applied toward students; 21
(B) provide training and professional de-22
velopment for school officials to avoid or ad-23
dress the overuse and discriminatory dispropor-24
tionate use of exclusionary discipline practices 25
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•HR 2738 IH
in schools and to create awareness of implicit 1
and explicit bias and use culturally sustaining 2
practices, including training in— 3
(i) identifying and providing support 4
to students who may have experienced or 5
are at risk of experiencing trauma or have 6
other mental health needs; 7
(ii) administering and responding to 8
assessments on adverse childhood experi-9
ences; 10
(iii) providing student-centered, trau-11
ma-informed services and positive behavior 12
management interventions that create safe 13
and supportive school climates; 14
(iv) using restorative practices; 15
(v) using culturally and linguistically 16
responsive intervention strategies; 17
(vi) developing social and emotional 18
learning competencies; and 19
(vii) increasing student engagement 20
and improving dialogue between students 21
and educators; 22
(C) implement and evaluate evidence-based 23
alternatives to suspension or expulsion, includ-24
ing— 25
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(i) multi-tier systems of support, such 1
as positive behavioral interventions and 2
supports; 3
(ii) social, emotional, and academic 4
learning strategies designed to engage stu-5
dents and avoid escalating conflicts; and 6
(iii) other data-driven approaches to 7
improving school environments; 8
(D) improve behavioral and academic out-9
comes for students by creating a safe and sup-10
portive learning environment and school cli-11
mate, which may include— 12
(i) restorative practices with respect 13
to improving relationships among students, 14
school officials, and members of the local 15
community, which may include partnering 16
with local mental health agencies or non-17
profit organizations; 18
(ii) access to mentors and peer-based 19
support programs; 20
(iii) extracurricular programs, includ-21
ing sports and art programs; 22
(iv) social and emotional learning 23
strategies designed to engage students and 24
avoid escalating conflicts; 25
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(v) access to counseling, mental health 1
programs, and trauma-informed services, 2
including suicide prevention programs; and 3
(vi) access to culturally responsive 4
curricula that affirms the history and con-5
tributions of traditionally marginalized 6
people and communities; 7
(E) hire social workers, school counselors, 8
trauma-informed care personnel, and other 9
mental health personnel who shall not serve as 10
proxies for school-based law enforcement offi-11
cers; and 12
(F) support the development, delivery, and 13
analysis of school climate surveys. 14
(2) P
ROHIBITED USES.—An eligible entity that 15
receives a grant under this section may not use 16
funds to— 17
(A) hire or retain school-based law enforce-18
ment personnel, including school resource offi-19
cers; 20
(B) purchase, maintain, or install surveil-21
lance equipment, including metal detectors or 22
software programs that monitor or mine the so-23
cial media use or technology use of students; 24
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•HR 2738 IH
(C) arm educators, principals, school lead-1
ers, or other school personnel; and 2
(D) enter into formal or informal partner-3
ships or data and information sharing agree-4
ments with— 5
(i) the Secretary of Homeland Secu-6
rity, including agreements with U.S. Immi-7
gration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. 8
Customs and Border Protection; or 9
(ii) State, local, or other law enforce-10
ment agencies, including partnerships that 11
allow for hiring of school-based law en-12
forcement. 13
(f) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, in car-14
rying out subsection (a), may reserve not more than 2 per-15
cent of funds to provide technical assistance to eligible en-16
tities, which may include— 17
(1) support for data collection, compliance, and 18
analysis of the activities of the program authorized 19
under subsection (a); and 20
(2) informational meetings and seminars with 21
respect to the application process under subsection 22
(c). 23
(g) R
EPORT BYGRANTEES.—Not later than one year 24
after the date of enactment of this section, an eligible enti-25
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•HR 2738 IH
ty receiving a grant under this section shall submit to the 1
Secretary, and to the public, a report on the activities 2
funded through the grant. The Secretary shall make each 3
such report publicly accessible in an appropriate digital 4
format. Such report shall include, at a minimum, a de-5
scription of— 6
(1) the evaluation methods of disciplinary prac-7
tices prior to the grant; 8
(2) training and professional development serv-9
ices provided for school officials, including school- 10
based law enforcement officers, to address discrimi-11
natory discipline practices, implicit and explicit bias, 12
and other uses described in subsection (e)(1); 13
(3) aggregated and de-identified behavioral, so-14
cial, emotional, and academic outcomes experienced 15
by students; 16
(4) any instance of physical restraint used on a 17
student with an explanation of a circumstance de-18
scribed in subsection (d)(6); 19
(5) the number of students who were referred 20
to some form of alternative practice described in 21
subsection (e)(1)(C); 22
(6) disaggregated data on students suspended, 23
expelled, arrested at school, and referred to the juve-24
nile or criminal legal system, except that such 25
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disaggregation shall not be required in the case of 1
a State, local educational agency, or a school in 2
which the number of students in a subgroup is in-3
sufficient to yield statistically reliable information or 4
the results would reveal personally identifiable infor-5
mation about an individual student, cross tabulated 6
by— 7
(A) reason for disciplinary action; 8
(B) type and length of disciplinary action; 9
(C) grade level; 10
(D) race; 11
(E) ethnicity; 12
(F) sex (including to the extent possible, 13
sexual orientation and gender identity); 14
(G) low-income status; 15
(H) disability status; 16
(I) English learner status; 17
(J) foster care status; 18
(K) housing status, to the extent possible; 19
(L) Tribal citizenship or descent, in the 20
first or second degree, of an Indian Tribe; and 21
(M) pregnant and parenting student sta-22
tus, to the extent possible; and 23
(7) any other information required by the Sec-24
retary. 25
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SEC. 6. JOINT TASK FORCE TO END SCHOOL PUSHOUT OF 1
GIRLS OF COLOR. 2
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary and the Sec-3
retary of Health and Human Services shall establish and 4
operate a joint task force to end school pushout (in this 5
section referred to as the ‘‘Joint Task Force’’). 6
(b) C
OMPOSITION.— 7
(1) C
HAIRS.—The Secretary and the Secretary 8
of Health and Human Services shall chair the Joint 9
Task Force. 10
(2) M
EMBERS.— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Joint Task Force 12
shall include 21 total members and be com-13
posed of— 14
(i) 6 students, including 2 Black, 15
Brown, and Indigenous girls; 16
(ii) 2 educators; 17
(iii) 3 parents, including foster par-18
ents, legal guardians, and caregivers with 19
children enrolled in public school; 20
(iv) 3 public school officials; 21
(v) 3 representatives from the civil 22
rights community, including civil rights 23
and disability organizations; 24
(vi) 2 psychologists, social workers, 25
trauma-informed personnel, and other 26
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mental health professionals with expertise 1
in child and adolescent development; and 2
(vii) 2 researchers with experience in 3
behavioral intervention with children and 4
youth. 5
(B) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS .—The 6
Joint Task Force shall not include law enforce-7
ment officers. 8
(3) A
DVISORY MEMBERS .—In addition to the 9
members under paragraph (2), the Assistant Attor-10
ney General of the Civil Rights Division of the De-11
partment of Justice and the Director of the Bureau 12
of Indian Education shall be advisory members of 13
the Joint Task Force. 14
(4) M
EMBER APPOINTMENT .—Not later than 15
60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 16
the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and 17
Human Services shall appoint the members of the 18
Joint Task Force— 19
(A) in accordance with paragraph (2); 20
(B) using a competitive application proc-21
ess; and 22
(C) with consideration to the racial, ethnic, 23
gender, disability, and geographic diversity of 24
the Joint Task Force. 25
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(c) STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS .—The Joint 1
Task Force shall— 2
(1) conduct a study to— 3
(A) identify causes for disparities in school 4
discipline administration that push girls of color 5
out of schools; 6
(B) identify best practices for reducing the 7
overuse and discriminatory use of exclusionary 8
discipline practices; 9
(C) identify interventions and account-10
ability for local and State educational agencies 11
when disparities in school discipline are found; 12
and 13
(D) determine to what extent exclusionary 14
discipline practices contribute to the criminal-15
ization of— 16
(i) girls of color; 17
(ii) English learners; 18
(iii) Indigenous girls; 19
(iv) LGBTQI+ students; 20
(v) students experiencing homeless-21
ness; 22
(vi) students involved in the foster 23
care system; and 24
(vii) students with disabilities; and 25
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•HR 2738 IH
(2) develop recommendations based on the 1
study conducted under paragraph (1). 2
(d) R
EPORT.—Not later than 360 days after the date 3
of the enactment of this Act, and biannually thereafter, 4
the Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human 5
Services shall submit to Congress a report on the rec-6
ommendations under subsection (c)(2). The report shall 7
be— 8
(1) available to the public through the public 9
website of the Department of Health and Human 10
Services and by request; 11
(2) accessible in accordance with the require-12
ments of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 13
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.); and 14
(3) available in multiple languages. 15
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-17
priated $500,000,000 for each fiscal year after the date 18
of enactment of this Act to carry out sections 5 and 6. 19
(b) A
DDITIONALFUNDING TO THE OFFICE FOR 20
C
IVILRIGHTS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 21
$500,000,000 for each fiscal year after the date of enact-22
ment of this Act to carry out section 4. 23
Æ
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