YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessTransparency & AccountabilityAverage Household ImpactBans seclusion and chemical or mechanical restraint in federally funded schools, limiting physical holds to imminent-danger cases.
Civil Liberties
- Bodily-restraint protections for students — Seclusion, mechanical restraint, and chemical restraint prohibited
- Private right of action — Students and parents may sue a program in federal or state court
- Sovereign immunity defense — Programs may not invoke the Eleventh Amendment against these suits
- Personal liability for school staff — Individual personnel are not liable in these proceedings
Criminal Justice & Due Process
- Restraint limits on school police — Resource officers and security guards are covered by the same rules
Transparency & Accountability
- Reporting requirements — States must publish annual restraint counts by race, disability status, sex, and school type
- Parent notification — Written notice required within 24 hours of any physical restraint
- Incident review — A meeting with parents is required within 5 school days
- Public comment — State plans need a 60-day comment window and a written response
- Oversight visits — States must visit each special education school at least once a year
- Outside notification — Protection and advocacy systems told within 24 hours of an injury or death
Average Household Impact
- Funding for compliance and school-climate programs — Open-ended authorization beginning in fiscal year 2026
The details
Locking a child alone in a room would become illegal in any school that takes federal money. So would strapping a student to a device, using drugs to control behavior, and any hold that restricts breathing or blood flow to the brain — including face-down and face-up restraints. Hands-on physical restraint would still be allowed, but only in narrow circumstances. There must be an imminent danger of serious physical injury, and gentler responses must have been unworkable. The hold ends the moment the danger passes. It could no longer be written into a student's education plan as a planned strategy. Parents would hear about any restraint the same day, and in writing within 24 hours. That notice must describe what happened, what staff tried first, and how long the hold lasted. A meeting follows within five school days, including the person who imposed the restraint and an expert on behavior. Students and parents could sue the program in federal or state court, and states could not claim sovereign immunity. Individual teachers and aides would not be personally liable — the suit runs against the program. The Education Department must withhold federal payments from programs that violate the rules. States would report every year how often restraint is used. The counts break out by race, disability status, sex, English proficiency, and school type, along with injuries, deaths, and restraints by untrained staff. Three-year grants would help states build that reporting capacity and expand alternatives such as positive behavior supports, mental health services, and de-escalation training. The rules reach public schools, Head Start, Bureau of Indian Education and Defense Department schools, and private schools serving students with disabilities. Home schools are exempt. Funding is open-ended — such sums as may be necessary, starting in fiscal year 2026.
Congressional Summary
Keeping All Students Safe ActThis bill prohibits the use of seclusion and limits the use of physical restraint in schools and Head Start programs that receive federal funding.Specifically, the bill prohibits the use of seclusion, which is the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving. The term does not include a time out, which may involve separating the student from others in a non-locked setting.The bill prohibits the use of mechanical or chemical restraints or physical restraints that restrict breathing or are life threatening.The bill outlines the requirements for the use of physical restraint, including that the student's behavior must pose an imminent danger of serious physical injury to the student or other individual. Each state must ensure that a sufficient number of program personnel are trained and certified by a state-approved crisis intervention training program. Additionally, each program must establish procedures to follow after an incident involving physical restraint.Further, the bill establishes enforcement provisions, including a private right of action for a student who has been subjected to unlawful seclusion or restraint. The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services must withhold payments from a program for unlawful seclusion or restraint.Finally, the bill requires each state educational agency (SEA) to establish, implement, and enforce policies and procedures required by the bill. It also creates a grant program to assist SEAs with these activities.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-12-11
- Date Added
- 2026-07-28
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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