Beyond the Box for Higher Education Act of 2026

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 10661 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 10661 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to issue guidance and recommendations for institutions of higher education on removing criminal and juvenile justice questions from their application for admissions process. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 1, 2026 Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania (for herself and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to issue guidance and recommendations for institutions of higher education on removing criminal and juvenile justice questions from their application for admissions process. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Beyond the Box for Higher Education Act of 2026''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) An estimated 70,000,000 Americans have some type of arrest or conviction record that would appear in a criminal background check. (2) Each year, more than 600,000 people return to society from State or Federal prison. (3) Nearly 11,000,000 Americans are admitted to city and county jails each year, with an average daily population of more than 700,000 people. (4) An estimated 2,100,000 youth under the age of 18 are arrested every year in the United States. (5) 1,700,000 juvenile delinquency cases are disposed of in juvenile courts annually. (6) Juvenile records are not always confidential; many States disclose information about youth involvement with the juvenile justice system or do not have