II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1338
To reduce exclusionary discipline practices in schools, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL8, 2025
Mr. B
OOKERintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
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
(1) strengthen data collection related to exclu-10
sionary discipline practices in schools and the dis-11
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criminatory application of such practices, which dis-1
proportionately pushes students of color, particularly 2
girls of color, out of school; 3
(2) eliminate the discriminatory use and over-4
use of exclusionary discipline practices based on ac-5
tual or perceived race, ethnicity, color, national ori-6
gin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender iden-7
tity, pregnancy, childbirth, a medical condition re-8
lated to pregnancy or childbirth, parenting status, or 9
other stereotype related to sex), or disability; 10
(3) eliminate all unnecessary loss of instruc-11
tional time due to unsound or excessive use of for-12
mal and informal disciplinary removal from instruc-13
tional settings; and 14
(4) prevent the criminalization and pushout of 15
students from school, especially Black and Brown 16
girls, as a result of educational barriers that include 17
discrimination, adultification, punitive discipline poli-18
cies and practices, and a failure to recognize and 19
support students with mental health needs or experi-20
encing trauma. 21
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 22
In this Act: 23
(1) A
CT OF INSUBORDINATION .—The term ‘‘act 24
of insubordination’’ means an act that disrupts a 25
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school activity or instance when a student willfully 1
defies the valid authority of a school official. 2
(2) A
PPEARANCE OR GROOMING POLICY .—The 3
term ‘‘appearance or grooming policy’’ means any 4
practice, policy, or portion of a student conduct code 5
that governs or restricts the appearance of students, 6
including policies that— 7
(A) restrict or prescribe clothing that a 8
student may wear (including hijabs, headwraps, 9
or bandanas); 10
(B) restrict specific hair styles (such as 11
braids, locs, twists, Bantu knots, cornrows, ex-12
tensions, or afros); or 13
(C) restrict whether or how a student may 14
apply make-up, nail polish, or other cosmetics. 15
(3) C
HEMICAL RESTRAINT .—The term ‘‘chem-16
ical restraint’’ means a drug or medication used on 17
a student to control behavior or restrict freedom of 18
movement that is not— 19
(A) prescribed by a licensed physician, or 20
other qualified health professional acting under 21
the scope of the professional’s authority under 22
State law, for the standard treatment of a stu-23
dent’s medical or psychiatric condition; and 24
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(B) administered as prescribed by a li-1
censed physician or other qualified health pro-2
fessional acting under the scope of the author-3
ity of a health professional under State law. 4
(4) C
ORPORAL PUNISHMENT .—The term ‘‘cor-5
poral punishment’’ means, with respect to a student, 6
a deliberate act which causes the student to feel 7
physical pain for the purpose of discipline, including 8
an act of physical force, such as striking, spanking, 9
or paddling, inflicted on a student’s body, requiring 10
a student to assume a painful physical position, or 11
the use of chemical sprays, electroshock weapons, or 12
stun guns on a student’s body. 13
(5) C
ULTURALLY SUSTAINING .—The term ‘‘cul-14
turally sustaining’’ describes educational practices 15
that encourage students to bring their cultural and 16
linguistic assets and life experiences to a school com-17
munity. Culturally sustaining practices incorporate 18
those assets and experiences into coursework and the 19
social fabric of a school. 20
(6) D
IRECT SUPERVISION.—The term ‘‘direct 21
supervision’’ means a student is physically in the 22
same location as a school official and such student 23
is under the care of the school official or school. 24
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(7) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ means 1
a mental or physical disability that meets the condi-2
tions set forth in clauses (i) and (ii) of section 3
602(3)(A) of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-4
cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3)(A)(i) and (ii)) or in 5
section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 6
794). 7
(8) D
ISCIPLINARY ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL .—The 8
term ‘‘disciplinary alternative school’’ means a short- 9
or long-term educational setting to which a student 10
is sent for disciplinary or behavioral reasons for a 11
specified amount of time before being allowed to re-12
turn to their regular school setting. 13
(9) E
LEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 14
ACT TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary school’’, 15
‘‘English learner’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘sec-16
ondary school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ has 17
the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 18
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 19
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 20
(10) E
XCLUSIONARY DISCIPLINE .—The term 21
‘‘exclusionary discipline’’ describes school policies 22
and practices, whether formal or informal action of 23
school officials or by law enforcement, used to dis-24
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cipline students by removing them from their regular 1
learning environment. 2
(11) G
ENDER IDENTITY.—The term ‘‘gender 3
identity’’ means the gender-related identity, appear-4
ance, mannerisms, or other gender-related character-5
istics of an individual regardless of the designated 6
sex at birth of the individual. 7
(12) I
NFORMAL REMOVAL .—The term ‘‘infor-8
mal removal’’ means an administrative removal of a 9
student from the learning environment for part or 10
all of the school day, or an indefinite period of time, 11
without documenting the removal as a suspension or 12
expulsion or engaging in formalized disciplinary 13
processes. 14
(13) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 15
has the meaning given the term in section 4(e) of 16
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist-17
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). 18
(14) I
N-SCHOOL SUSPENSION .—The term ‘‘in- 19
school suspension’’ means an instance in which a 20
student is temporarily removed from a regular class-21
room for at least half a day but remains under the 22
direct supervision of a school official. 23
(15) M
ECHANICAL RESTRAINT .—The term 24
‘‘mechanical restraint’’ has the meaning given the 25
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term in section 595(d)(1) of the Public Health Serv-1
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 290jj(d)(1)), except that the 2
meaning shall be applied by substituting ‘‘student’’ 3
for ‘‘resident’’. 4
(16) M
ULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS .— 5
The term ‘‘multi-tiered system of supports’’ means 6
a comprehensive continuum of evidence-based, sys-7
temic practices to support a rapid response to the 8
needs of students, with regular observation to facili-9
tate data-based instructional decision making. 10
(17) O
UT-OF-SCHOOL SUSPENSION .—The term 11
‘‘out-of-school suspension’’ means an instance in 12
which a student is excluded from their school for 13
disciplinary reasons by temporarily being removed 14
from regular classes to another setting, including a 15
home, virtual school placement, alternative school 16
placement, disciplinary alternative school, or behav-17
ior center, regardless of whether such disciplinary 18
removal is deemed as a suspension by school offi-19
cials. 20
(18) P
HYSICAL ESCORT.—The term ‘‘physical 21
escort’’ has the meaning given the term in section 22
595(d)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 23
U.S.C. 290jj(d)(2)), except that the meaning shall 24
be applied by substituting ‘‘student’’ for ‘‘resident’’. 25
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(19) PHYSICAL RESTRAINT.—The term ‘‘phys-1
ical restraint’’ means a personal restriction that im-2
mobilizes or reduces the ability of an individual to 3
move the individual’s arms, legs, torso, or head free-4
ly, except that such term does not include a physical 5
escort, mechanical restraint, or chemical restraint. 6
(20) P
OSITIVE BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS 7
AND SUPPORTS.—The term ‘‘positive behavioral 8
interventions and supports’’ means a schoolwide, 9
systematic approach that embeds evidence-based 10
practices and data-driven decision-making to im-11
prove school climate and culture in order to achieve 12
improved academic and social outcomes and increase 13
learning for all students (including students with the 14
most complex and intensive behavioral needs) and 15
encompasses a range of systemic and individualized 16
positive strategies to teach and reinforce school-ex-17
pected behaviors, while discouraging and diminishing 18
undesirable behaviors. 19
(21) P
USHOUT.—The term ‘‘pushout’’ means 20
an instance when a student leaves elementary, mid-21
dle or secondary school, including a forced transfer 22
to another school, prior to graduating secondary 23
school due to overuse of exclusionary discipline prac-24
tices, failure to address trauma or other mental 25
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health needs, discrimination, or other educational 1
barriers that do not support or promote the success 2
of a student. 3
(22) S
CHOOL-BASED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI -4
CER.—The term ‘‘school-based law enforcement offi-5
cer’’ means an individual who— 6
(A) is— 7
(i) assigned by a law enforcement 8
agency to a secondary or elementary school 9
or local educational agency; 10
(ii) contracting with a secondary or el-11
ementary school or local educational agen-12
cy; or 13
(iii) employed by a secondary or ele-14
mentary school or local educational agency; 15
(B) has the legal power to detain, arrest, 16
issue a citation, perform a custodial investiga-17
tion, or refer a person to a criminal or juvenile 18
court; 19
(C) meets the definition of a law enforce-20
ment personnel under State law; or 21
(D) may be referred to as a ‘‘school re-22
source officer’’, a ‘‘sworn law enforcement offi-23
cer’’, or a ‘‘school police officer’’. 24
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(23) SCHOOL OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘school of-1
ficial’’ means an educator, school principal, adminis-2
trator, or other personnel, not considered school- 3
based law enforcement, engaged in the performance 4
of duties with respect to a school. 5
(24) S
ECLUSION.—The term ‘‘seclusion’’ means 6
the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a 7
room or area where the student is physically pre-8
vented from leaving, and does not include a time 9
out. 10
(25) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 11
means the Secretary of Education. 12
(26) S
ERIOUS BODILY INJURY.—The term ‘‘se-13
rious bodily injury’’ has the meaning given that term 14
in section 1365(h)(3) of title 18, United States 15
Code. 16
(27) S
EXUAL ORIENTATION.—The term ‘‘sexual 17
orientation’’ means how a person identifies in terms 18
of their emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction, 19
and includes identification as straight, heterosexual, 20
gay, lesbian, or bisexual, among other terms. 21
(28) S
PECIAL EDUCATION SCHOOL .—The term 22
‘‘special education school’’ means a school that fo-23
cuses primarily on serving the needs of students who 24
qualify as ‘‘a child with a disability’’ as that term 25
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is defined under section 602(3)(A)(i) of the Individ-1
uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2
1401(3)(A)(i)) or are subject to section 504 of the 3
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794). 4
(29) T
HREAT ASSESSMENT .—The term ‘‘threat 5
assessment’’ means actions consisting of referrals or 6
meetings initiated by a member of school staff, ad-7
ministrator, school counselor, or educator that in-8
clude law enforcement officers to assess whether a 9
student constitutes a threat or risk to self or others. 10
(30) T
IME OUT.—The term ‘‘time out’’ has the 11
meaning given the term in section 595(d)(5) of the 12
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290jj(d)(5)), 13
except that the meaning shall be applied by sub-14
stituting ‘‘student’’ for ‘‘resident’’. 15
(31) T
RAUMA-INFORMED SERVICES.—The term 16
‘‘trauma-informed services’’ means a service delivery 17
approach that— 18
(A) recognizes and responds to the impacts 19
of trauma with evidence-based supports and 20
intervention; 21
(B) emphasizes physical, psychological, and 22
emotional safety for both providers of services 23
and survivors of trauma; and 24
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(C) creates opportunities for survivors of 1
trauma to rebuild a sense of healing and em-2
powerment. 3
(32) Z
ERO-TOLERANCE POLICY .—The term 4
‘‘zero-tolerance policy’’ is a school discipline policy 5
that results in an automatic disciplinary con-6
sequence, including out-of-school suspension, expul-7
sion, and involuntary school transfer. 8
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING CIVIL RIGHTS DATA COLLECTION 9
WITH RESPECT TO EXCLUSIONARY DIS-10
CIPLINE IN SCHOOLS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary for Civil 12
Rights shall annually carry out data collection, while 13
maintaining appropriate safety and privacy standards, au-14
thorized under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of 15
Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), 16
which shall include data with respect to students enrolled 17
in a public preschool, elementary, or secondary school (in-18
cluding traditional public, charter, virtual, special edu-19
cation school, and alternative schools or placements) who 20
received the following disciplinary actions during the pre-21
ceding school year: 22
(1) Suspension (including the classification of 23
the suspension as in-school suspension or out-of- 24
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school suspension), which shall include data with re-1
spect to— 2
(A) the number of students who were sus-3
pended, disaggregated and cross-tabulated by 4
type of suspension and by— 5
(i) enrollment in a preschool or in an 6
elementary school and secondary school by 7
grade level; 8
(ii) race; 9
(iii) ethnicity; 10
(iv) sex (including, to the extent pos-11
sible, sexual orientation and gender iden-12
tity); 13
(v) low-income status; 14
(vi) disability status (including stu-15
dents eligible for disability under the Indi-16
viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 17
U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) or section 504 of the 18
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 10 19
794)); 20
(vii) English learner status; 21
(viii) foster care status; 22
(ix) housing status, to the extent pos-23
sible; 24
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(x) Tribal citizenship or descent, in 1
the first or second degree, of an Indian 2
Tribe, to the extent possible; and 3
(xi) pregnant and parenting student 4
status, to the extent possible; 5
(B) the number and length of suspensions; 6
(C) the reason for each such suspension, 7
including— 8
(i) a violation of a zero-tolerance pol-9
icy and whether such violation was due to 10
a violent or nonviolent offense; 11
(ii) a violation of an appearance pol-12
icy, dress code, or grooming policy; 13
(iii) an act of insubordination; 14
(iv) willful defiance; and 15
(v) a violation of a school code of con-16
duct; and 17
(D) the number of days of lost instruction 18
due to each out-of-school and in-school suspen-19
sion. 20
(2) Expulsion, including agreements to with-21
draw a child from school in lieu of an expulsion 22
process, which shall include data with respect to— 23
(A) the number of students who were ex-24
pelled, disaggregated and cross-tabulated as 25
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outlined under clauses (i) through (xi) of sub-1
section (a)(1)(A); and 2
(B) the reason for each such expulsion, in-3
cluding— 4
(i) a violation of a zero-tolerance pol-5
icy and whether such violation was due to 6
a violent or nonviolent offense; 7
(ii) a violation of an appearance pol-8
icy, dress code, or grooming policy; 9
(iii) an act of insubordination, willful 10
defiance, or violation of a school code of 11
conduct; 12
(iv) the use of profane or vulgar lan-13
guage; 14
(v) an act of insubordination; and 15
(vi) a violation of a school code of 16
conduct. 17
(3) The number of students subject to an out- 18
of-school transfer to a different school, including al-19
ternative education placements or a virtual school, 20
disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 21
clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), and 22
the primary reason for each such transfer. 23
(4) The number of students subject to a refer-24
ral to law enforcement or threat assessment process, 25
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disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 1
clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), in-2
cluding the primary reason for each such referral, 3
and whether such referral resulted in an arrest. 4
(5) The number of students arrested at school, 5
including at school-sponsored activities, 6
disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined under 7
clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection (a)(1)(A), and 8
the primary reason for such arrest. 9
(6) The number of students subject to a refer-10
ral to or placement in a residential facility, including 11
for temporary or short-term holds (such as 48-hour 12
or 72-hour holds) disaggregated and cross-tabulated 13
as outlined under clauses (i) through (xi) of sub-14
section (a)(1)(A). 15
(7) The number of students subject to place-16
ment in juvenile or criminal legal confinement or 17
other institutionalized settings, including diversion 18
to arrest programs and mental and psychiatric pro-19
grams, disaggregated and cross-tabulated as outlined 20
under clauses (i) through (xi) of subsection 21
(a)(1)(A). 22
(b) R
EPORT.— 23
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than one year 24
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-25
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nually thereafter, the Assistant Secretary for Civil 1
Rights shall submit to Congress a report on the data 2
collected under subsection (a). 3
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The report required 4
under paragraph (1) shall— 5
(A) identify, with respect to the data col-6
lected under subsection (a), schools, local edu-7
cational agencies, and States that demonstrate 8
a pattern of the overuse and discriminatory use 9
of exclusionary disciplinary practices; 10
(B) be disaggregated and cross tabulated, 11
except that such disaggregation shall not be re-12
quired in the case of a State, local educational 13
agency, or a school in which the number of stu-14
dents in a subgroup is insufficient to yield sta-15
tistically reliable information or the results 16
would reveal personally identifiable information 17
about an individual student, by— 18
(i) enrollment in a preschool or in an 19
elementary school and secondary school by 20
grade level; 21
(ii) race; 22
(iii) ethnicity; 23
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(iv) sex (including, to the extent pos-1
sible, sexual orientation and gender iden-2
tity); 3
(v) low-income status; 4
(vi) disability status (including stu-5
dents eligible for disability under the Indi-6
viduals with Disabilities Education Act (20 7
U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) or section 504 of the 8
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 9
794)); 10
(vii) English learner status; 11
(viii) foster care status; 12
(ix) housing status, to the extent pos-13
sible; 14
(x) Tribal citizenship or descent, in 15
the first or second degree, of an Indian 16
Tribe; and 17
(xi) pregnant and parenting student 18
status, to the extent possible; 19
(C) be publicly accessible in multiple lan-20
guages, accessibility formats, and provided in a 21
language that parents, families, and community 22
members can understand; and 23
(D) be presented in a manner that protects 24
the privacy of individuals consistent with the re-25
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quirements of section 444 of the General Edu-1
cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g), com-2
monly known as the ‘‘Family Educational 3
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’. 4
SEC. 5. GRANTS TO REDUCE EXCLUSIONARY SCHOOL DIS-5
CIPLINE PRACTICES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall award grants 7
(which shall be known as the ‘‘Healing School Climate 8
Grants’’), on a competitive basis, to eligible entities for 9
the purpose of reducing the overuse and discriminatory 10
use of exclusionary discipline practices and policies in 11
schools. 12
(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—In this section, the term 13
‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 14
(1) one or more local educational agencies (who 15
may be partnered with a State educational agency), 16
including a public charter school that is a local edu-17
cational agency under State law or local educational 18
agency operated by the Bureau of Indian Education; 19
or 20
(2) a nonprofit organization (defined as an or-21
ganization described in section 501(c)(3) of the In-22
ternal Revenue Code, which is exempt from taxation 23
under section 501(a) of such Code) with a track 24
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record of success in improving school climates and 1
supporting students. 2
(c) A
PPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a grant 3
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-4
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 5
information as the Secretary may require, including an as-6
surance that the eligible entity shall prioritize schools with 7
high rates of disparities in exclusionary discipline, such 8
as suspensions, expulsions, law enforcement referrals, and 9
school-based arrests, for students of color, students with 10
disabilities, LGBTQI+ students, English language learn-11
ers, students experiencing homelessness, students involved 12
in the foster care system, and students living at the inter-13
sections of these identities, and historical patterns of dis-14
parities in exclusionary school discipline. The Secretary 15
shall make applications publicly accessible in an appro-16
priate digital format. 17
(d) P
ROGRAMREQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity 18
that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall prohibit 19
the use of— 20
(1) out-of-school suspension or expulsion for 21
any student in preschool through grade 5 for inci-22
dents that do not involve serious physical injury; 23
(2) out-of-school suspension or expulsion for 24
any student in preschool through grade 12 for insub-25
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ordination, willful defiance, vulgarity, truancy, tardi-1
ness, chronic absenteeism, or as a result of a viola-2
tion of a grooming or appearance policy; 3
(3) corporal punishment; 4
(4) seclusion; 5
(5) a mechanical or chemical restraint on a stu-6
dent; or 7
(6) a physical restraint or physical escort that 8
is life threatening, that restricts breathing, or that 9
restricts blood flow to the brain, including prone and 10
supine restraint, on a student, except when each of 11
the following requirements are met: 12
(A) The student’s behavior poses an immi-13
nent danger of serious physical injury to the 14
student, program personnel, or another indi-15
vidual. 16
(B) Before using physical restraint, less 17
restrictive interventions would be ineffective in 18
stopping such imminent danger of serious phys-19
ical injury. 20
(C) Such physical restraint is imposed 21
by— 22
(i) program personnel trained and cer-23
tified by a State-approved crisis interven-24
tion training program; or 25
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•S 1338 IS
(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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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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•S 1338 IS
(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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•S 1338 IS
(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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•S 1338 IS
(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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•S 1338 IS
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 experience by 15
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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•S 1338 IS
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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•S 1338 IS
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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(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 American with Disabilities Act of 1990 13
(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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