H.R. 2738 — Ending PUSHOUT Act of 2025

This section states the purposes of the Act, which are (1) to strengthen data collection related to exclusionary discipline practices in schools and their discriminatory application, which disproportionately affects students of color, particularly girls of color; (2) to eliminate the discriminatory use and overuse of such practices based on race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, parenting status, or sex-based stereotypes), or disability; (3) to eliminate unnecessary loss of instructional time due to unsound or excessive disciplinary removals from instructional settings; and (4) to prevent the criminalization and pushout of students from school—especially Black and Brown girls—resulting from discrimination, adultification, punitive policies, and failures to support students with mental health needs or trauma.

This section establishes definitions for 20 terms used throughout the Act, including (1) "act of insubordination" (i.e., an act disrupting school activity or willfully defying valid school authority); (2) "appearance or grooming policy" (i.e., policies restricting clothing, hairstyles, or cosmetics); (3) "chemical restraint," (4) "corporal punishment," (14) "in-school suspension," (17) "out-of-school suspension"; (10) "exclusionary discipline" (i.e., practices removing students from regular learning environments); (7) "disability" (incorporating conditions from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1401(3)(A)(i)-(ii), and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 794); (11) "gender identity"; (15) "mechanical restraint," (19) "physical restraint," and (18) "physical escort" (as adapted from the Public Health Service Act); (20) "positive behavioral interventions and supports"; (16) "multi-tiered system of supports"; and others relating to school discipline and restraints.

This section directs the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights to annually collect data—under existing authority in section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)) and consistent with privacy protections—on exclusionary disciplinary actions taken against students in public preschools, elementary schools, and secondary schools (including traditional public, charter, virtual, special education, and alternative schools). The required data covers (1) suspensions (in-school or out-of-school), including numbers, lengths, reasons (e.g., zero-tolerance violations, dress code breaches, insubordination, willful defiance), and days of lost instruction; (2) expulsions (including agreements to withdraw); (3) out-of-school transfers; (4) referrals to law enforcement or threat assessment processes (including arrests); (5) school arrests; (6) referrals to or placements in residential facilities; and (7) placements in juvenile or criminal confinement or other institutionalized settings. All data must be disaggregated and cross-tabulated by enrollment type and grade level; race; ethnicity; sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity, to the extent possible); low-income, disability (under IDEA or section 504), English learner, foster care, housing (to the extent possible), Tribal citizenship or descent, and pregnant or parenting student status (to the extent possible). This section further requires the Assistant Secretary to submit annual reports to Congress, beginning one year after enactment, that identify schools, LEAs, and states with patterns of overuse or discriminatory use of such practices; present disaggregated data publicly in accessible, multilingual formats; and protect student privacy consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA; 20 U.S.C. 1232g).

This section establishes a competitive grant program, known as the Healing School Climate Grants, under which the Secretary of Education awards funds to eligible entities—local educational agencies (LEAs, including public charter schools and Bureau of Indian Education-operated LEAs) or qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofits—to reduce the overuse and discriminatory application of exclusionary discipline practices in schools. Grant applications must assure prioritization of schools with high disparities in exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspensions, expulsions, law enforcement referrals, school-based arrests) for students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQI+ students, English learners, homeless students, foster care students, and those at their intersections, with historical patterns of such disparities; applications must be publicly accessible in digital format. Grantees must prohibit (1) out-of-school suspensions or expulsions for preschool through grade 5 students except for incidents involving serious physical injury; (2) such discipline for preschool through grade 12 students for insubordination, defiance, vulgarity, truancy, tardiness, absenteeism, or grooming policy violations; (3) corporal punishment; (4) seclusion; (5) mechanical or chemical restraints; and (6) life-threatening physical restraints (including those restricting breathing or blood flow, prone, or supine) except under strict conditions of imminent serious physical injury risk, prior ineffective less-restrictive interventions, use by trained personnel (or rare untrained emergency), immediate cessation when danger ends, minimal force, preserved communication, and non-interference with documented disabilities, health needs, or plans (e.g., individualized education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Grantees must use funds to (1) evaluate and, with student, family, and community input, develop non-exclusionary, non-discriminatory discipline policies; (2) train school officials on bias awareness, trauma support, adverse childhood experiences, trauma-informed interventions, restorative practices, culturally responsive strategies, social-emotional learning, and student engagement; and (3) implement and evaluate evidence-based alternatives to suspension or expulsion, including multi-tiered supports such as positive behavioral interventions and supports, and social-emotional-academic learning strategies.

This section establishes a Joint Task Force, chaired by the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services, to end school pushout (i.e., the overuse of exclusionary discipline practices that disproportionately affect girls of color and push them out of school). The task force comprises 21 members—(1) 6 students, including 2 Black, Brown, and Indigenous girls; (2) 2 educators; (3) 3 parents, foster parents, legal guardians, or caregivers of public school children; (4) 3 public school officials; (5) 3 civil rights representatives, including from disability organizations; (6) 2 mental health professionals with child development expertise; and (7) 2 researchers experienced in youth behavioral interventions—and excludes law enforcement officers, with advisory roles for the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education. Members must be appointed within 60 days of enactment via a competitive process prioritizing racial, ethnic, gender, disability, and geographic diversity. The task force must conduct a study identifying causes of discipline disparities for girls of color, best practices to reduce exclusionary discipline, interventions and accountability for local and state education agencies, and the extent to which such practices contribute to criminalization of girls of color, English learners, Indigenous girls, LGBTQI+ students, homeless students, foster youth, and students with disabilities; and develop related recommendations. Within 360 days of enactment, and biannually thereafter, the Secretaries must submit those recommendations to Congress in a publicly available report that is accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act and offered in multiple languages.

This section authorizes appropriations of $500 million for each fiscal year after the date of enactment to carry out sections 5 and 6. It further authorizes appropriations of $500 million for each fiscal year after the date of enactment for the Office for Civil Rights to carry out section 4.