Protection and Advocacy for Student Success Act

More school advocacy for people with disabilities

If enacted, the Secretary of Education would make grants to protection and advocacy systems to protect the education rights of people with disabilities. Grantees would monitor violations, work to stop dangerous practices like seclusion and restraint, help families through parent training centers, provide advocacy in dispute resolution, and pursue legal remedies and systemic change. The federal share would be 100 percent and grantees would not need to provide matching funds. The Secretary would generally pay full grants directly to systems that comply with the rules. When yearly appropriations are at least $6,750,000, most funds would be divided by each State's population share, with minimum grants of $120,000 for State/DC/PR systems and $60,000 for territories and the American Indian consortium. If annual appropriations reach $10,000,000 and exceed the prior year, those minimum grants would rise by the same percent as the funding increase. The Secretary would set aside technical assistance funds: 1 percent (not less than $50,000) if funding is under $6,750,000, and 2 percent if funding is $6,750,000 or more. Any unobligated amounts would carry over to the next fiscal year, and program income would remain available for five additional fiscal years. Congress would be authorized to appropriate such sums as necessary for each fiscal year from 2026 through 2035.