I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7320 
To help local educational agencies replace zero-tolerance disciplinary policies 
and punitive discipline in elementary and secondary schools with restora-
tive practices. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 31, 2022 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. DANNY 
K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. TLAIB, and Ms. MCCOLLUM) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor 
A BILL 
To help local educational agencies replace zero-tolerance dis-
ciplinary policies and punitive discipline in elementary 
and secondary schools with restorative practices. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restorative Practices 
in Schools Act of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to help local educational 
agencies replace zero-tolerance disciplinary policies and 
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punitive discipline in elementary and secondary schools 
with restorative practices that— 
(1) provide an intentional approach to school 
safety and student well-being that addresses the 
needs of the whole child; 
(2) recognize student behavior as a result of 
underlying need, and childhood emotional and behav-
ioral development; 
(3) build community and repair relationships 
while developing students’ proactive skills for conflict 
resolution, communication, problem-solving, and em-
pathy; 
(4) reduce undesirable behavior; and 
(5) promote relationship-centered schools and 
safe, inclusive learning environments with positive 
school climates. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 
school’’, ‘‘evidence-based’’, ‘‘local educational agen-
cy’’, ‘‘parent’’, ‘‘professional development’’, ‘‘school 
leader’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, ‘‘special-
ized instructional support personnel’’, and ‘‘other 
staff’’ have the meaning given those terms in section 
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8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(2) PROGRAM
PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘pro-
gram personnel’’ means— 
(A) any agent of a local educational agen-
cy, including an individual who is employed by 
a local educational agency, or who performs 
services for a local educational agency on a con-
tractual basis, including— 
(i) school leaders; 
(ii) educators; 
(iii) specialized instructional support 
personnel; 
(iv) paraprofessionals; or 
(v) other staff; and 
(B) a school-based law enforcement officer. 
(3) RESTORATIVE PRACTICES.—The term ‘‘re-
storative practices’’ means evidence-based practices 
that— 
(A) acknowledge and honor the dignity of 
students; 
(B) are proactive approaches that teach 
and build community, empathy, and account-
ability school-wide to reduce and discourage un-
desirable student behavior; 
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(C) improve school climate, elevate stu-
dents’ voices, and strengthen all relationships in 
a school community; 
(D) may include— 
(i) strategies such as restorative dia-
logue, informal conferencing, proactive cir-
cles, and responsive circles; 
(ii) reactive strategies that address 
conflicts, individual incidents, and class-
room-wide issues; and 
(iii) formal conferences, reintegration 
circles, and circles of support and account-
ability to cultivate empathy and repair 
harm; and 
(E) do not include mediation or school- 
based mediation to address bullying, harass-
ment, or other forms of discrimination. 
(4) SCHOOL-BASED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFI-
CER.—The term ‘‘school-based law enforcement offi-
cer’’ means any person, sworn or unsworn, who— 
(A) is assigned by the employing law en-
forcement agency to a local educational agency 
or school, who is contracting with a local edu-
cational agency or school, or who is employed 
by a local educational agency or school; 
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(B)(i) has the power to detain, arrest, 
issue a citation, perform a custodial investiga-
tion, or refer a person to criminal or juvenile 
court; or 
(ii) is considered under State law to meet 
the definition of law enforcement; and 
(C) includes an individual referred to as a 
‘‘school resource officer’’, ‘‘school safety agent’’, 
or a ‘‘school police officer’’, if that individual 
meets the definition in subparagraphs (A) and 
(B). 
(5) SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE.—The term 
‘‘school to prison pipeline’’ means the use of dis-
cipline practices such as zero-tolerance policies that 
funnel students out of school and toward the juve-
nile legal and criminal legal systems. 
(6) SUBGROUP OF STUDENTS.—The term sub-
group of students has the meaning given that term 
in section 1111(c)(2) of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary 
Education 
Act 
of 
1965 
(20 
U.S.C. 
6311(c)(2)). 
SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education shall 
award grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational 
agencies to enable those local educational agencies to im-
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plement and sustain restorative practices for elementary 
and secondary schools and to replace existing punitive 
models, in accordance with subsection (d). 
(b) APPLICATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Local educational agencies 
desiring a grant under this section shall submit an 
application at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Secretary may rea-
sonably require, including— 
(A) information about— 
(i) the number of students served by 
that local educational agency who are in 
contact with the juvenile legal system at 
the time the application is submitted; 
(ii) the percentage of residents living 
in the area served by the local educational 
agency who are in contact with the legal 
justice system at the time the application 
is submitted; 
(iii) the percentage and number of 
residents living in the area served by the 
local educational agency who are admitted 
to correctional facilities each year; 
(iv) the percentage and number of 
residents living in the area served by the 
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local educational agency who are on proba-
tion, parole, or any other form of commu-
nity-based supervision at the time of the 
application; and 
(v) the percentage or number of stu-
dents served by the local educational agen-
cy who— 
(I) received one or more in-school 
suspensions; 
(II) received one or more out-of- 
school suspensions; 
(III) were expelled because of 
zero-tolerance policies; 
(IV) were referred to a law en-
forcement agency or official; 
(V) were arrested for school-re-
lated activity; or 
(VI) received corporal punish-
ment; 
(B) demographic information that shows 
evidence that the community served by the local 
educational agency is disproportionally im-
pacted by the legal justice system or that 
marginalized subgroups in that community are 
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disproportionally impacted by the legal justice 
system; 
(C) documentation of meaningful commu-
nity engagement and stakeholder interest in es-
tablishing or expanding restorative practices at 
the local educational agency or schools served 
by the local educational agency, including en-
gagement and interest of teachers’ unions and 
organizations, school leadership parent-teacher 
associations, student councils, and not less than 
1 advocacy organization for each subgroup of 
students, and which may include other relevant 
groups; 
(D) a plan to implement evidence-based, 
restorative, equitable, and non-discriminatory 
school discipline practices that improve the cli-
mate of the local educational agency and that 
meet the requirements of subsection (c); 
(E) the number and percentage of exclu-
sionary discipline practices implemented by the 
local educational agency, including suspensions 
and expulsions, as a whole and disaggregated 
by student subgroup, students experiencing 
homelessness, and students who are children 
and youth in foster care; 
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(F) an assurance that the local educational 
agency will meet the requirements described in 
subsection (c); and 
(G) a description of whether the local edu-
cational agency meets the criteria described in 
subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (3). 
(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to local edu-
cational agencies that— 
(A) serve communities that have been dis-
proportionately impacted by the juvenile and 
criminal legal systems; 
(B) have disproportionally high rates of 
grade retention, suspensions, and expulsions for 
certain subgroups of students; 
(C) serve students in an area that has a 
high concentration of residents in poverty, in-
cluding local educational agencies that are in 
the highest quartile of local educational agen-
cies in a ranking of all qualified local edu-
cational agencies in the State ranked in de-
scending order by the number or percentage of 
children in each agency counted under section 
1124(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6333(c)); or 
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(D) serve students in a rural community 
and need additional staff to support the imple-
mentation of restorative practices. 
(3) GRANT
APPLICANT
POOLS.—In awarding 
grants under this section, the Secretary shall evalu-
ate applicants according to the following two distinct 
applicant pools: 
(A) Applicants seeking to implement re-
storative practices in one or more schools served 
by the local educational agency for the first 
time. 
(B) Applicants seeking to expand and sus-
tain existing restorative practice programs in 
one or more schools served by the local edu-
cational agency or improve data collection sys-
tems under subsection (d)(4), as the case may 
be. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS
FOR GRANT RECIPIENTS.—In 
order to receive a grant under this section a local edu-
cational agency shall submit an assurance to the Secretary 
as part of the application described in subsection (b) that 
the local educational agency will agree to— 
(1) hire a full-time employee (who shall not 
have academic teaching or administrative duties dis-
tinct from the responsibilities described in this para-
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graph and shall not be a law enforcement officer or 
a retired law enforcement officer) whose primary re-
sponsibility is to provide training, professional devel-
opment, coaching, and oversight for restorative prac-
tices implementation in the local educational agency 
or schools served by the local educational agency; 
(2) fund ongoing restorative practices training, 
professional development, and on-site coaching for 
all program personnel, students, and interested par-
ents; 
(3) eliminate— 
(A) zero-tolerance disciplinary policies at 
the local educational agency or at all elemen-
tary and secondary schools served by the local 
educational agency; or 
(B) the application of these policies to un-
desirable behavior to the greatest extent pos-
sible under State law; 
(4) adopt safety and discipline policies or codes 
of conduct that— 
(A) emphasize ways of maintaining safety 
that minimize the involvement of law enforce-
ment (including school-based law enforcement 
officers and including U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement), to the greatest extent 
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that is practicable and permitted under applica-
ble Federal, State, and local laws; and 
(B) eliminate the use of exclusionary dis-
cipline policies, including suspensions and ex-
pulsions for undesirable student behavior to the 
greatest extent permitted by Federal, State, 
and local laws; 
(5) implement implicit bias, cultural com-
petence, and anti-racist training for program per-
sonnel; 
(6) establish policies that limit when law en-
forcement can be called into schools, including by— 
(A) recognizing the local educational agen-
cy as the primary authority responsible for 
school climate and safety; 
(B) requiring that school discipline issues 
be handled by program personnel who are not 
school-based law enforcement officers, police, 
security officers, or other law enforcement, un-
less there is a real, immediate, specific, and 
credible threat of serious physical injury to a 
student, teacher, or other member of the school 
community; and 
(C) establishing that school administrators 
shall have final responsibility and jurisdiction 
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over the building, the grounds, and all members 
of the school community, to the greatest extent 
permitted by law; 
(7) prohibit the issuance of tickets, summonses, 
and referrals of students to the juvenile or criminal 
legal systems for all school disciplinary matters and 
school status offenses; 
(8) provide proper notice and a right of action 
or appeals procedures for students, parents, and 
guardians involved in school discipline; 
(9) prohibit the use of metal detectors, facial 
recognition software, and other surveillance tech-
nology and approaches; and 
(10) prohibit the sharing of student data (per-
sonal and academic) with Federal, State, or local 
law enforcement, U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement, or other law enforcement, except as 
required by law. 
(d) USES OF GRANT FUNDS.—A local educational 
agency shall use grant funds received under this section 
to support the implementation of restorative practices in 
elementary and secondary schools served by the local edu-
cational agency. Funds may be used to carry out one or 
more of the following activities: 
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(1) Hiring additional full-time and part-time 
employees (including students and parents) to lead 
evidence-based, restorative practices at the district 
or school level. 
(2) Providing anti-racist, culturally competent, 
and linguistically responsive curriculum and material 
development and training to program personnel. 
(3) Providing trauma-informed or healing-cen-
tered engagement practice training. 
(4) If not already in place, developing data col-
lection systems to accurately document behavior inci-
dents as well as school responses to those incidents, 
such as restorative circles to support implementation 
of restorative practices. 
(5) Offering robust integrated student supports, 
such as wraparound services and social services nec-
essary to address the underlying causes of undesir-
able student behavior, including hiring specialized 
instructional support personnel and related service 
providers such as psychologists, counselors, nurses, 
social workers, paraprofessionals, conflict resolution 
staff, and advisors, in a manner that is in accord-
ance with— 
(A) evidence-based student-educator ratios; 
and 
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