Restrictive procedures and seclusion requirements modifications and appropriation

A bill for an act

relating to education; modifying requirements for restrictive procedures and

seclusion; requiring a report; appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes

2024, section 125A.0942.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 125A.0942, is amended to read:

125A.0942 STANDARDS FOR RESTRICTIVE PROCEDURES.

Subdivision 1.

Restrictive procedures plan.

(a) Schools that intend to use restrictive

procedures
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shall
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must
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maintain and make publicly accessible in an electronic format on a

school or district website or make a paper copy available upon request describing a restrictive

procedures plan for children with disabilities
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that at least
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. The school must notify the

department, in the form and manner prescribed by the commissioner, that the school has a

restrictive procedures plan. The restrictive procedures plan must, at a minimum
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:

(1)
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lists
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list
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the restrictive procedures the school intends to use;

(2)
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describes
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describe
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how the school will implement a range of positive behavior

strategies and provide links to mental health services;

(3)
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describes
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describe
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how the school will provide training on de-escalation techniques,

consistent with section
122A.187, subdivision 4
;

(4)
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describes
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describe
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how the school will monitor and review the use of restrictive

procedures, including:

(i) conducting post-use debriefings, consistent with subdivision 3, paragraph (a), clause

(5); and

(ii) convening an oversight committee to undertake a quarterly review of the use of

restrictive procedures based on patterns or problems indicated by similarities in the time of

day, day of the week, duration of the use of a procedure, the individuals involved, or other

factors associated with the use of restrictive procedures; the number of times a restrictive

procedure is used schoolwide and for individual children; the number and types of injuries,

if any, resulting from the use of restrictive procedures; whether restrictive procedures are

used in nonemergency situations; the need for additional staff training; and proposed actions

to minimize the use of restrictive procedures; any disproportionate use of restrictive

procedures based on race, gender, or disability status; the role of the school resource officer

or police in emergencies and the use of restrictive procedures; and documentation to

determine if the standards for using restrictive procedures as described in sections
125A.0941

and
125A.0942
are met; and

(5)
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includes
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include
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a written description and documentation of the training staff

completed under subdivision 5.

(b) Schools annually must publicly identify oversight committee members who must at

least include:

(1) a mental health professional, school psychologist, or school social worker;

(2) an expert in positive behavior strategies;

(3) a special education administrator; and

(4) a general education administrator.

Subd. 2.

Restrictive procedures.

(a) Restrictive procedures may be used only by a

licensed special education teacher, school social worker, school psychologist, behavior

analyst certified by the National Behavior Analyst Certification Board, a person with a

master's degree in behavior analysis, other licensed education professional, paraprofessional

under section
120B.363
, or mental health professional under section
245.4871, subdivision

27
, who has completed the training program under subdivision 5.

(b) A school
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shall
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must
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make reasonable efforts to notify the parent on the same day a

restrictive procedure is used on the child, or if the school is unable to provide same-day

notice, notice is sent within two days by written or electronic means or as otherwise indicated

by the child's parent under paragraph (f).

(c) The district must hold a meeting of the individualized education program or

individualized family service plan team, conduct or review a functional behavioral analysis,

review data, consider developing additional or revised positive behavioral interventions and

supports, consider actions to reduce the use of restrictive procedures,
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review the child's

seclusion data, including frequency and duration of seclusion,
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and modify the individualized

education program, individualized family service plan, or behavior intervention plan as

appropriate. The district must hold the meeting:

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(1)
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within ten calendar days after district staff use restrictive procedures on two separate

school days within 30 calendar days
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or a pattern of use emerges
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;
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(2) within ten calendar days after district staff use a restrictive procedure
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and the child's

individualized education program, individualized family service plan, or behavior intervention

plan does not provide for using restrictive procedures in an emergency; or

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(3)
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at the request of a parent or the district after restrictive procedures are used.

The district must review use of restrictive procedures at a child's annual individualized

education program or individualized family service plan meeting when the child's

individualized education program or individualized family service plan provides for using

restrictive procedures in an emergency.

(d) If the individualized education program or individualized family service plan team

under paragraph (c) determines that existing interventions and supports are ineffective in

reducing the use of restrictive procedures or the district uses restrictive procedures on a

child on ten or more school days during the same school year, the team, as appropriate,

either must consult with other professionals working with the child; consult with experts in

behavior analysis, mental health, communication, or autism; consult with culturally competent

professionals; review existing evaluations, resources, and successful strategies; or consider

whether to reevaluate the child.

(e) At the individualized education program or individualized family service plan meeting

under paragraph (c), the team must review any known medical or psychological limitations,

including any medical information the parent provides voluntarily, that contraindicate the

use of a restrictive procedure, consider whether to prohibit that restrictive procedure, and

document any prohibition in the individualized education program, individualized family

service plan, or behavior intervention plan.

(f) An individualized education program or individualized family service plan team may

plan for using restrictive procedures and may include these procedures in a child's

individualized education program, individualized family service plan, or behavior intervention

plan; however, the restrictive procedures may be used only in response to behavior that

constitutes an emergency, consistent with this section. The individualized education program,

individualized family service plan, or behavior intervention plan
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shall
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must
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indicate how

the parent wants to be notified when a restrictive procedure is used.
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An individualized

education program or individualized family service plan team must include either the child's

treating mental health practitioner or a mental health provider that serves the district.
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(g) The use of seclusion as a restrictive procedure for a child in grades 1 through 12

must be explicitly agreed to:

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(1) by all parents or guardians with legal decision-making authority regarding the child;

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(2) through informed written consent that is separate from any other consent obtained

through the individualized education program or individualized family service plan; and

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(3) in the parents' or guardians' primary language, in accordance with the district's

language access plan under section 123B.32, and with all necessary interpretation and

cultural supports to ensure adequate understanding of the consent.

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A parent's or guardian's failure to respond to a request must not be considered as consent

to the use of seclusion.

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Subd. 3.

Physical holding or seclusion.

(a) Physical holding or seclusion may be used

only in an emergency. A school that uses physical holding or seclusion
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shall
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must
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meet the

following requirements:

(1) physical holding or seclusion is the least intrusive intervention that effectively

responds to the emergency;

(2) physical holding or seclusion is not used to discipline a noncompliant child;

(3) physical holding or seclusion ends when the threat of harm ends and the staff

determines the child can safely return to the classroom or activity;

(4) staff directly observes the child while physical holding or seclusion is being used;

(5) each time physical holding or seclusion is used, the staff person who implements or

oversees the physical holding or seclusion documents, as soon as possible after the incident

concludes, the following information:

(i) a description of the incident that led to the physical holding or seclusion;

(ii) why a less restrictive measure failed or was determined by staff to be inappropriate

or impractical;

(iii) the time the physical holding or seclusion began and the time the child was released;

(iv) a brief record of the child's behavioral and physical status; and

(v) a brief description of the post-use debriefing that occurred as a result of the use of

the physical hold or seclusion;

(6) the room used for seclusion must:

(i) be at least six feet by five feet;

(ii) be well lit, well ventilated, adequately heated, and clean;

(iii) have a window that allows staff to directly observe a child in seclusion;

(iv) have tamperproof fixtures, electrical switches located immediately outside the door,

and secure ceilings;

(v) have doors that open out and are unlocked, locked with keyless locks that have

immediate release mechanisms, or locked with locks that have immediate release mechanisms

connected with a fire and emergency system; and

(vi) not contain objects that a child may use to injure the child or others;
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and
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(7) before using
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a
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the
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room for seclusion, a school must:

(i) receive written notice from local authorities that the room and the locking mechanisms

comply with applicable building, fire, and safety codes; and

(ii) register the room with the commissioner, who may view that room
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.
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; and
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(8) the school must confirm with the commissioner that the appropriate staff received

the training required under subdivision 5.

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(b) By February 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, stakeholders may, as necessary,

recommend to the commissioner specific and measurable implementation and outcome

goals for reducing the use of restrictive procedures and the commissioner must submit to

the legislature a report on districts' progress in reducing the use of restrictive procedures

that recommends how to further reduce these procedures and eliminate the use of seclusion.

The statewide plan includes the following components: measurable goals; the resources,

training, technical assistance, mental health services, and collaborative efforts needed to

significantly reduce districts' use of seclusion; and recommendations to clarify and improve

the law governing districts' use of restrictive procedures.
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The report must include information

about how the use of seclusion and nonuse of seclusion may correlate with police or

emergency medical service involvement, student injuries, teacher injuries, expulsions,

suspensions, use of physical holds, home-based or federal setting 4 placements, or other

negative outcomes.
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The commissioner must consult with interested stakeholders when

preparing the report, including representatives of advocacy organizations, special education

directors, teachers, paraprofessionals, intermediate school districts, school boards, day

treatment providers, county social services, state human services department staff, mental

health professionals, and autism experts. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, in a

form and manner determined by the commissioner, districts must report data quarterly to

the department by January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15 about individual students

who have been secluded. By July 15 each year, districts must report summary data on their

use of restrictive procedures to the department for the prior school year, July 1 through June

30, in a form and manner determined by the commissioner. The summary data must include

information about the use of restrictive procedures, including use of reasonable force under

section
121A.582
.
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The commissioner must develop a statewide system for collecting data

related to seclusion and police or emergency medical service involvement in emergency

situations.
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(c) The use of seclusion on children in grades 1 through 12 who are receiving federal

setting 3 or 4 special education services is permitted until July 1, 2036, according to the

requirements of subdivision 4. The commissioner must establish annual seclusion rate

thresholds and a rate of decreasing the use of seclusion for each district that results in the

end of seclusion by July 1, 2036. By January 18, 2027, the commissioner must report to the

chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over

kindergarten through grade 12 education on the annual thresholds and rates of seclusion

that results in the end of the use of seclusion by July 1, 2036. By the end of the 2028-2029

school year, a district that has a seclusion rate above the recommended threshold or a

seclusion rate that is not decreasing at an acceptable rate must adopt a vetted alternative to

seclusion from the list of strategies contained in the department's most recent report under

paragraph (b). The department must implement a corrective action plan with the district

and allocate additional resources to that building, including technical assistance and ongoing

monitoring to address the specific needs and provide targeted support to lower the incidence

of seclusion. The commissioner must include the data on restrictive procedures for each

school district in the district's school report card on the department's website.

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Subd. 4.

Prohibitions.

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(a)
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The following actions or procedures are prohibited:

(1) engaging in conduct prohibited under section
121A.58
;

(2) requiring a child to assume and maintain a specified physical position, activity, or

posture that induces physical pain;

(3) totally or partially restricting a child's senses as punishment;

(4) presenting an intense sound, light, or other sensory stimuli using smell, taste,

substance, or spray as punishment;

(5) denying or restricting a child's access to equipment and devices such as walkers,

wheelchairs, hearing aids, and communication boards that facilitate the child's functioning,

except when temporarily removing the equipment or device is needed to prevent injury to

the child or others or serious damage to the equipment or device, in which case the equipment

or device
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shall
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must
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be returned to the child as soon as possible;

(6) interacting with a child in a manner that constitutes sexual abuse, neglect, or physical

abuse under chapter 260E;

(7) withholding regularly scheduled meals or water;

(8) denying access to bathroom facilities;

(9) physical holding that restricts or impairs a child's ability to breathe, restricts or impairs

a child's ability to communicate distress, places pressure or weight on a child's head, throat,

neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen, or results in straddling a child's

torso;

(10) prone restraint;
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and
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(11) the use of seclusion on children from birth through
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grade 3 by September 1, 2024.
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kindergarten; and
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(12) the use of seclusion on children in grades 1 through 12, unless the use of seclusion

is explicitly agreed to as provided in subdivision 2, paragraph (g), by the child's parent or

guardian and the individualized education program team members in attendance. Except as

provided in this section, failure of any part of the individualized education program team

to attend a meeting on seclusion will not bar the remaining team members from consenting

to the use of seclusion as provided by statute. If an individualized education program meeting

is convened to discuss the use of seclusion as part of an explicit behavior intervention or

crisis action plan, either the child's treating mental health professional or a school district

mental health professional and a licensed school nurse or registered nurse must be part of

the child's individualized education program team and must be present at the meeting to

discuss seclusion. The team must consider contraindications and alternative restrictive

procedures to use during an emergency before adding seclusion to the child's individualized

education program. A parent or guardian must be shown the seclusion room before providing

explicit written consent for the use of seclusion. In cases of administrative dispute, or other

judicial or quasi-judicial dispute or proceeding, an administrative law judge, mediator,

arbitrator, judge, or other presiding official is prohibited from ordering the use of seclusion

over the objection of a child's parent or guardian. Nothing in this section requires a school

to create a seclusion room if one does not exist.

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(b) At the end of each school year, a school district must report disaggregated data to

the Department of Education on the number of students whose individualized education

program includes the use of seclusion. By January 10 each year, the commissioner must

report on its website the number of students statewide whose individualized education

program includes the use of seclusion.

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Subd. 5.

Training for staff.

(a) To meet the requirements of subdivision 1, staff who

use restrictive procedures, including paraprofessionals,
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shall
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must
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complete training in the

following skills and knowledge areas:

(1) positive behavioral interventions;

(2) communicative intent of behaviors;

(3) relationship building;

(4) alternatives to restrictive procedures, including techniques to identify events and

environmental factors that may escalate behavior;

(5) de-escalation methods;

(6) standards for using restrictive procedures only in an emergency;

(7) obtaining emergency medical assistance;

(8) the physiological and psychological impact of physical holding and seclusion;

(9) monitoring and responding to a child's physical signs of distress when physical

holding is being used;

(10) recognizing the symptoms of and interventions that may cause positional asphyxia

when physical holding is used;

(11)
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effective practices for post-restrictive procedures team debriefing meetings, including

the
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district policies and procedures for timely reporting and documenting each incident

involving use of a restricted procedure;
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and
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(12) schoolwide programs on positive behavior strategies.
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;
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(13) effects of trauma on the brain and brain state-dependent functioning; and

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(14) effective practices for trauma-informed post-restrictive procedures restoration

between school staff, the child, and the child's family.

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(b) The commissioner, after consulting with the commissioner of human services, must

develop and maintain a list of training programs that satisfy the requirements of paragraph

(a). The commissioner also must develop and maintain a list of experts to help individualized

education program or individualized family service plan teams reduce the use of restrictive

procedures. The district
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shall
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must
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maintain records of staff who have been trained and the

organization or professional that conducted the training. The district may collaborate with

children's community mental health providers to coordinate trainings.

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(c) School staff who are not required to be trained according to paragraph (a) must

complete training in the following areas:

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(1) crisis prevention and safe crisis management, including modules on the neurobiology

of stress and trauma, effective de-escalation, co-regulation, and understanding sensory

processing needs; and

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(2) ableism and bias-awareness to increase understanding that what is perceived as

behavior is often part of a person's disability.

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Subd. 6.

Behavior supports; reasonable force.

(a) School districts are encouraged to

establish effective schoolwide systems of positive behavior interventions and supports.

(b) Nothing in this section or section
125A.0941
precludes the use of reasonable force

under sections
121A.582
;
609.06, subdivision 1
; and
609.379
. Any reasonable force used

under sections
121A.582
;
609.06, subdivision 1
; and
609.379
which intends to hold a child

immobile or limit a child's movement where body contact is the only source of physical

restraint or confines a child alone in a room from which egress is barred
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shall
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must
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be

reported to the Department of Education as a restrictive procedure, including physical

holding or seclusion used by an unauthorized or untrained staff person.

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(c) By February 1, 2024, the commissioner, in cooperation with stakeholders, must make

recommendations to the legislature for urgently ending seclusion in Minnesota schools. The

commissioner must consult with interested stakeholders, including parents of students who

have been secluded or restrained; advocacy organizations; legal services providers; special

education directors; teachers; paraprofessionals; intermediate school districts and cooperative

units as defined under section
123A.24, subdivision 2
; school boards; day treatment

providers; county social services; state human services department staff; mental health

professionals; autism experts; and representatives of groups disproportionately affected by

restrictive procedures, including People of Color and people with disabilities. The

recommendations must include specific dates for ending seclusion by grade or facility. The

recommendations must identify existing resources and the new resources necessary for staff

capacity, staff training, children's supports, child mental health services, and schoolwide

collaborative efforts.

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Subd. 7.

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Department of Education responsibilities.

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(a) The Department of Education

must report to the legislature according to the requirements in subdivision 3, paragraph (b),

on school districts' progress in reducing the use of restrictive procedures.

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(b) The department must provide each school district that uses seclusion with the list of

evidence-based alternatives to seclusion contained in the annual report under subdivision

3, paragraph (b).

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(c) The department must designate on their website a list of school districts and a contact

person at each district who may provide technical assistance to other schools interested in

adopting an alternative to seclusion used at the district.

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(d) The department must annually provide districts with information about professional

development opportunities available throughout the state on alternatives to seclusion, in

addition to the training programs listed according to subdivision 5.

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(e) The department must include a district's data on the use of restrictive procedures for

each school district that notifies the department under subdivision 1 of a restrictive procedures

plan on the district's Minnesota report card according to subdivision 3, paragraph (c).

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Sec. 2.
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APPROPRIATIONS.
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Subdivision 1.

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Department of Education.

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The sums indicated in this section are

appropriated from the general fund to the Department of Education for the fiscal years

designated.

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Subd. 2.

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Data accountability.

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(a) To establish a data-accountability system related to

the use of restrictive procedures:

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$

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.......

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.....

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2027

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(b) The amount in paragraph (a) is for an annual review of restrictive procedures plans

and the use of seclusion, and for strategic target-setting for schools to end the use of seclusion

in grades 1 through 12 by July 1, 2036, in accordance with Minnesota Statutes, section

125A.0942.

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Subd. 3.

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School staff training.

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(a) For aid to schools to provide the required staff training

under Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.0942, subdivision 5:

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$

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.......

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.....

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2027

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(b) A school must apply for the aid in the form and manner prescribed by the

commissioner. If the requests for funding exceed the available appropriation, the

commissioner must prorate the awarded amounts.

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Subd. 4.

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Alternatives to seclusion.

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(a) For aid to schools to implement evidence-based

alternatives to seclusion in order to eliminate seclusion in grades 1 through 12 by July 1,

2036:

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$

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.......

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.....

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2027

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(b) A school must apply for the aid in the form and manner prescribed by the

commissioner. After the 2028-2029 school year, the commissioner must give priority to

schools that have a seclusion rate above the recommended threshold or a seclusion rate that

is not decreasing at an acceptable rate according to Minnesota Statutes, section 125A.0942,

subdivision 3, paragraph (c).

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