Keep Kids in School Act

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to support a reduction in school suspensions and expulsions. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Keep Kids in School Act 2. State plans Section 1111(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6311(c) (1) in paragraph (13), by striking and (2) in paragraph (14) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (15) the State educational agency will work with other State agencies, local educational agencies, organizations representing teachers, administrators, and other school personnel, organizations representing parents, and community-based programs to reduce suspensions and expulsions in public early childhood education programs, as applicable, and elementary school and secondary school including by— (A) focusing on local educational agencies with a high rate of suspensions and expulsions and with a disparity between the rates of suspension and expulsion for students who are members of the categories described in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii)(III)(dd), and all students at the school; (B) expanding professional development provided to principals, administrators, teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, para-educators, and other staff that regularly interact with students, on a schoolwide basis, to educate such individuals about evidence-based approaches to reduce suspensions and expulsions, such as prevention and deescalation strategies, conflict resolution, understanding and responding to the effects of trauma and violence on students, and multi-tiered systems of support that include developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate positive behavioral interventions for students in public early childhood education programs, as applicable, and elementary school and secondary school; and (C) developing a plan to ensure that each student who is suspended will receive ongoing educational services that will allow the student to successfully participate in the student's previous educational program upon the student's return to school following a suspension. . 3. Local plans Section 1112(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6312(b)(1) (1) in subparagraph (P), by striking and (2) is subparagraph (Q), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (R) a description of— (i) the actions the local educational agency will take to reduce suspensions and expulsions in public early childhood education programs, as applicable, and elementary school and secondary school; and (ii) how the local educational agency will measure progress and benchmarks of improvement in reducing suspensions and expulsions, and the professional development that is necessary to achieve such a reduction, with a particular focus on reducing disparities between the rates of suspension and expulsion for students who are members of the categories described in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii)(III)(dd) as compared to such rates for all students at the school; (S) an assurance that, in consultation with local government agencies, and community-based programs, if applicable, the local educational agency will provide a report on— (i) the professional development provided to principals, administrators, teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, para-educators, and other staff that regularly interact with students on evidence-based approaches to reduce suspensions and expulsions for students in public school, which may include prevention and deescalation strategies, conflict resolution, understanding and responding to the effects of trauma and violence on students, and multi-tiered systems of support that include developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate positive behavioral interventions; and (ii) a description of how the local educational agency will ensure that each student who is suspended will receive ongoing educational services that will allow the student to successfully participate in the student's previous educational program upon the student's return to school following a suspension; (T) an assurance that each school served by the local educational agency will make publicly available, the school’s individual suspension and expulsion policy, or the suspension and expulsion policy of the local educational agency that serves the school, if such policy operates on the local educational agency level; and (U) an assurance that each school served by the local educational agency will make available, upon request, information about the behavior that resulted in each suspension or expulsion that was issued to a student at the school. . 4. Reporting (a) LEA Report Section 1111(h)(2)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(2)(B) (ii) in the case of a school— (I) whether the school has been identified for school improvement; (II) information that shows how the school's students achievement on the statewide academic assessments and other indicators of adequate yearly progress compared to students in the local educational agency and the State as a whole; and (III) information about suspensions and expulsions, including— (aa) the number of suspensions and expulsions; (bb) the length of each suspension; (cc) the number of children suspended and the number of children suspended more than once; (dd) the number of police arrests and referrals to law enforcement of students, disaggregated by grade, race, ethnicity, gender, disability status (in accordance with section 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), migrant status, English proficiency status, and status as economically disadvantaged; (ee) the number of times multiple suspensions were issued for the same student for the same offense; (ff) the number of times a student is transferred as part of a disciplinary removal to an alternative educational setting, disaggregated by the categories described in subclause (IV); (gg) the percentage of the student population that was suspended or expelled, disaggregated by the groups described in item (dd); and (hh) information on the professional development and implementation support provided to principals, administrators, teachers, and other appropriate staff on schoolwide evidence-based approaches, such as those described in section 1111(c)(15) to reduce suspensions and expulsions in public early childhood education programs, as applicable, and elementary school and secondary school. . (b) State report Section 1111(h)(1)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(C) (1) by redesignating clause (vii) and (viii) as clause (viii) and (ix), respectively; and (2) by inserting after clause (vi) the following; (vii) the information described in paragraph (2)(B)(ii)(III), as applicable, aggregated to reflect the State as a whole; . 5. Reservation of funds for school improvement Section 4121 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7131 (1) in subsection (a) by inserting , and not reserved under subsection (c) carry out this subpart under section 4003(2), (2) in subsection (b), by striking this section and inserting subsection (a); and (3) by adding at the end the following: (c) Reservation of funds for school discipline (1) In General No less than 7.5 percent of the funds made available to carry out this subpart under section 4003(2) shall be reserved for the Secretary to make grants to the 50 local educational agencies with an approved application that have the highest rates of suspension and expulsion and the greatest disparity between the rates of suspension and expulsion for students who are members of the categories described in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii)(III)(dd), and all students at the school, as determined by the Secretary. (2) Allocation of funds The Secretary shall allocate the funds described in paragraph (1) among such local educational agencies in a manner determined by the Secretary. (3) Application In order to receive funds under this subsection, a local educational agency shall submit a plan to the Secretary in such form and containing such information as the Secretary may reasonably require and shall include a description of how the local educational agency will use the funds awarded under this subsection for the professional development of principals, administrators, teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, para-educators, school resource officers, and school police to reduce suspensions and expulsions. (4) Eligible activities A local educational agency receiving funds under this subsection may use such funds to carry out one or more of the following activities: (A) training on developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate prevention and deescalation strategies; (B) implementing positive behavioral intervention systems; (C) implementing tiered disciplinary systems; (D) carrying out training on conflict resolution and restorative justice; (E) hiring additional school-based mental health services providers; and (F) carrying out other evidence-based approaches to reducing school suspensions and expulsions. (5) Report (A) Reports to the Secretary At the conclusion of each grant period, each local educational agency that receives a grant under this subsection shall prepare and submit a report to the Secretary on the uses for the funding received as well as the techniques used by the local educational agency to reduce suspensions and expulsions. (B) Report on best practices The Secretary shall publish and make publicly available an annual report on the best practices for State educational agencies and local educational agencies to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions, and may include information from the reports described in subparagraph (A). . 6. Definitions Section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 7801 (44) Suspension The term suspension (45) Expulsion The term expulsion . 7. State and local uses of funds for professional development (a) State Use of Funds Section 2113(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6613(c) (19) Encouraging and supporting local educational agencies in providing professional development to teachers, administrators, other school personnel, and school leaders in ways to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions, especially when resulting in disparities between the rates of suspension and expulsion for students who are members of the categories described in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii)(III)(dd) as compared to such rates for all students at the school, which may include developing tools such as developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate prevention and deescalation strategies, positive behavioral intervention systems, tiered disciplinary systems, conflict resolution and restorative justice, and other evidence-based approaches. . (b) Local Use of Funds Section 2123(a)(3)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6623(a)(3)(B) (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking teachers and principals and, in appropriate cases, paraprofessionals, teachers, administrators, other personnel, and school leaders (2) by redesignating clauses (iii) through (v) as clauses (iv) through (vi), respectively; and (3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following: (iii) provide professional development regarding ways to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions, especially when resulting in disparities between the rates of suspension and expulsion for students who are members of the categories described in section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii)(III)(dd) as compared to such rates for all students at the school, which may include developing tools or establishing school-level teams that are well-versed and familiar with tools such as developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate prevention and deescalation strategies, positive behavioral intervention systems, tiered disciplinary systems, conflict resolution, and other evidence-based approaches; .

Summary: Keep Kids in School Act Amends the school improvement program under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require state school improvement plans to contain assurances that the state will work with other education stakeholders to reduce suspensions and expulsions in public preschool programs and public elementary and secondary schools. Requires the school improvement plans of local educational agencies (LEAs) to include: a description of the actions the LEA will take to reduce suspensions and expulsions and how the LEA will measure their success in doing so; an assurance that the LEA will report on the training provided to school staff to reduce suspensions and expulsions and how suspended students will receive ongoing educational services that enable them to resume their previous studies upon returning to school; an assurance that each of the LEA's schools will make publicly available its suspension and expulsion policy or the LEA's policy if the policy operates on the LEA level; and an assurance that each of the LEA's schools will make available, upon request, information about the behavior that resulted in each suspension or expulsion. Requires the annual state and local report cards to include specified information concerning school suspensions and expulsions, including the training and support provided to school staff to reduce those disciplinary actions. Reserves a portion of the funds under part A (Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities) of title IV of the ESEA for grants to the 50 LEAs with an approved application that have the highest suspension and expulsion rates and the greatest disparity in those rates for specified student subgroups and the student body as a whole. Allows those grants to be used for: training on developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate prevention and de-escalation strategies; positive behavioral intervention systems; tiered disciplinary systems; training on conflict resolution and restorative justice; hiring additional school-based mental health services providers; and other evidence-based approaches to reducing school suspensions and expulsions. Authorizes LEAs to use their subgrants under part A (Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund) of title II of the ESEA to provide school personnel with training on ways to reduce the use of suspensions and expulsions, especially when those actions result in disparities between the suspension and expulsion rates for specified student subgroups and the student body as a whole.