The Biden Administration is pushing back against punishments in schools that disproportionately harm students of color.
On Friday, the Justice and Education departments issued a letter to the nation's schools discouraging them from using punishments that remove students from their classes — including out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and in-school arrests. They also reminded schools that they must comply with civil rights laws when levying punishment.
“Discrimination in student discipline forecloses opportunities for students, pushing them out of the classroom and diverting them from a path to success in school and beyond,” the departments wrote in the letter, first reported by The Washington Post. “Significant disparities by race — beginning as early as preschool — have persisted in the application of student discipline in schools.”
Despite accounting for just 15 percent of enrollment in K-12 schools nationally, Black students accounted for 38 percent of out-of-school suspensions in the 2017-2018 school year, according to an Education Department report. Students with disabilities comprised 13 percent of student bodies, but made up around 25 percent of suspensions.
The Obama Administration issued similar guidance in 2014, threatening schools with legal action if they expelled students of color at higher rates than White students. The provisions were reversed by the Trump Administration, who claimed lack of discipline was making schools more dangerous. While federal law has not changed across administrations, the guidelines hold schools accountable for unequal enforcement.
Catherine E. Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement that she hopes the guidelines will offer “a window into that heartbreak and to see how unacceptable it is for our students to be experiencing these kinds of conditions in the range of experiences that we see.”
“Both as the chief civil rights enforcer in the nation’s schools and also as a mom of kids, I am sick about the kinds of facts that we find in our investigations and the experiences that we ask our kids to hold in school,” she said.
