U.S. Representative Don Beyer applauded Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and the Virginia General Assembly for outlawing the use of seclusion and restraint to discipline public school students. “Governor McAuliffe and the Virginia legislature are right: These dangerous techniques have no place in our schools,” said Rep. Beyer. “I worked to include a federal version of this bill in this month’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, so that these practices would cease beyond Virginia’s borders as well.”

Beyer introduced H.R. 927, the Keeping All Students Safe Act, to establish minimum safety standards in schools similar to protections already in place in hospitals and non-medical community-based facilities. His legislation was included as part of the Democrats’ Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization proposal, which has been offered as a substitute amendment to H.R. 5, the Republican rewrite of ESEA.