Subd. 4. Reports to the state.–A superintendent must make an annual report to the commissioner of education by December 1 of the total number of nonpublic children reported as residing in the district. The report must include the following information:

Subd. 3. Reports; filing requirements.–By July 31 of each year, each public school shall report incidents involving the use or possession of a dangerous weapon in school zones to the commissioner. The reports must be submitted using the electronic reporting system developed by the commissioner under subdivision 2. The commissioner shall compile the information it receives from the schools and report it annually to the commissioner of public safety and the legislature.

Subdivision 1. Exclusions and expulsions; student withdrawals; physical assaults.- Consistent with subdivision 2, the school board must report through the department electronic reporting system each exclusion or expulsion, each physical assault of a district employee by a pupil, and each pupil withdrawal agreement within 30 days of the effective date of the dismissal action, pupil withdrawal, or assault, to the commissioner of education. This report must include a statement of nonexclusionary disciplinary pratices, or other sanction, intervention, or resolution in response to the assault given the pupil and the reason for, the effective date, and the duration of the exclusion or expulsion or other sanction, intervention, or resolution. The report must also include the puipil’s age, grade, gender, race, and special education status. 

Subd. 2. Report.

(a) The school board must include state student identification numbers of affected pupils on all dismissal and other disciplinary reports required by the department. The department must report annually to the commissioner summary data on the number of dismissals and physical assaults of district employees by a student by age, grade, gender, race, and special education status of the affected pupils. All dismissal and other disciplinary reports must be submitted through the department electronic reporting system.

(b) The commissioner must aggregate the district data reported under this section and include the aggregated data, including aggregated data on physical assaults of a district employee by a student, in the annual school performance reports under section 120B.36.

Subdivision 1. Reasonable force standard.

(d) Districts must report data on their use of any reasonable force used on a student with a disability to correct or restrain the student to prevent bodily harm or death to the student or another that is consistent with the definition of physical holding under section 125A.0941, paragraph (c), as outlined in section 125A.0942, subdivision 3, paragraph (b).

(e) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, districts must report annually by July 15, in a form and manner determined by the commissioner, data from the prior school year about any reasonable force used on a general education student to correct or restrain the student to prevent bodily harm or death to the student or another that is consistent with the definition of physical holding under section 125A.0941, paragraph (c). 

The principal or other person having general control and supervision of the school, and representatives of parents, students, and staff in a school building shall confer at least annually to review the discipline policy and to assess whether the policy has been enforced. A school board must conduct an annual review of the districtwide discipline policy.

Subd. 3. Physical holding or seclusion.

(a) 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. 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. 

Subd. 6. Behavior supports; reasonable force.

(a) 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 shall be reported to the Department of Education as a restrictive procedure, including physical holding or seclusion used by an unauthorized or untrained staff person. 

(b) 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.