S. 1338 — Ending PUSHOUT Act of 2025

This section states the purposes of the Act: (1) strengthening data collection related to exclusionary discipline practices in schools and their discriminatory application, which disproportionately affects students of color, particularly girls of color; (2) eliminating 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) eliminating unnecessary loss of instructional time due to unsound or excessive disciplinary removals from instructional settings; and (4) preventing the criminalization and pushout of students from school—especially Black and Brown girls—resulting from discrimination, adultification, punitive discipline policies, and failures to support students with mental health needs or experiencing trauma.

This section establishes definitions for 20 terms used in the Act, including (1) act of insubordination (i.e., willful defiance disrupting school activity); (2) appearance or grooming policy (i.e., restrictions on clothing, hairstyles, or cosmetics); (3) chemical, mechanical, and physical restraint; (4) corporal punishment (i.e., acts causing physical pain for discipline); (5) culturally sustaining (i.e., practices incorporating students' cultural and linguistic assets); (6) disability (incorporating definitions 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); (7) exclusionary discipline and informal removal; (8) gender identity; and (9) positive behavioral interventions and supports, multi-tiered system of supports, and other discipline-related practices.

This section requires the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights to annually collect data—while maintaining appropriate safety and privacy standards—on exclusionary disciplinary actions taken against students enrolled in public preschool, elementary, and secondary schools (including traditional public, charter, virtual, special education, and alternative schools), disaggregated and cross-tabulated by enrollment type (preschool, elementary, or secondary by grade level), race, ethnicity, sex (including, to the extent possible, sexual orientation and gender identity), low-income status, disability status (under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973), English learner status, foster care status, housing status (to the extent possible), Tribal citizenship or descent in the first or second degree (to the extent possible), and pregnant and parenting student status (to the extent possible). The data covers (1) suspensions (in-school or out-of-school), including numbers, lengths, reasons (e.g., zero-tolerance violations for violent or nonviolent offenses, appearance/dress/grooming policies, insubordination, willful defiance, or school code of conduct violations), and days of lost instruction; (2) expulsions (including agreements to withdraw in lieu of expulsion), including reasons (e.g., zero-tolerance violations, appearance policies, insubordination, willful defiance, profane language, or school code violations); (3) out-of-school transfers (including to alternative or virtual schools) and primary reasons; (4) referrals to law enforcement or threat assessment processes, primary reasons, and whether resulting in arrest; (5) arrests at school or school-sponsored activities and primary reasons; (6) referrals to or placements in residential facilities (including 48- or 72-hour holds); and (7) placements in juvenile/criminal confinement or other institutionalized settings (including diversion, arrest, mental, or psychiatric programs). This section further requires the Assistant Secretary to submit to Congress, not later than one year after enactment and annually thereafter, a publicly accessible report (in multiple languages and accessibility formats) on the collected data that identifies schools, local educational agencies, and states demonstrating patterns of overuse or discriminatory use of such practices (with disaggregation exceptions for small subgroups or personally identifiable information). (As background, the Assistant Secretary oversees the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which enforces federal civil rights laws in education programs and currently conducts a biennial Civil Rights Data Collection with some discipline data; this provision mandates annual collection with expanded categories and reporting.)

This section establishes the Healing School Climate Grants program, under which the Secretary of Education awards competitive grants to eligible entities—local educational agencies (including public charter schools and those operated by the Bureau of Indian Education) or 501(c)(3) nonprofits with a track record of improving school climates—to reduce the overuse and discriminatory use of exclusionary discipline practices and policies in schools. Grant recipients must (1) submit applications prioritizing 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, or those at the intersections of these identities; and (2) make applications publicly accessible digitally. Recipients 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, willful defiance, vulgarity, truancy, tardiness, chronic absenteeism, or grooming/appearance 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 involving imminent danger of serious physical injury, trained personnel, minimal force, and accommodations for documented disabilities or health needs (e.g., in an individualized education program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Grant funds must be used to (1) evaluate and develop non-exclusionary, non-discriminatory discipline policies in partnership with students (including girls of color), families, and communities; (2) train school officials on implicit/explicit bias, culturally sustaining practices, trauma support, adverse childhood experiences, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, and student engagement; and (3) implement and evaluate evidence-based alternatives to suspension or expulsion, such as positive behavioral interventions and supports or social-emotional-academic learning strategies.

This section establishes a Joint Task Force, chaired by the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to study and make recommendations on disparities in school discipline that push girls of color out of school (i.e., "school pushout"). 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—appointed within 60 days of enactment via competitive process with diversity considerations; it excludes law enforcement officers and includes two advisory members from the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and Bureau of Indian Education. The task force must (1) study causes of discipline disparities, best practices to reduce exclusionary discipline, interventions and accountability for local and state educational agencies, and links to criminalization of girls of color, English learners, Indigenous girls, LGBTQI+ students, homeless students, foster youth, and students with disabilities; and (2) develop related recommendations. Not later than 360 days after enactment, and biannually thereafter, the Secretaries must submit those recommendations to Congress in a publicly available report that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and is offered in multiple languages.

This section authorizes appropriations of $500 million for each fiscal year after enactment (1) to carry out sections 5 and 6 and (2) to the Office for Civil Rights to carry out section 4.