Reducing Expulsions for Minor Infractions
INSERT LOGO
FLOOR ALERT- SUPPORT AB 2242
(Reducing Expulsions for Minor Infractions)
IN BRIEF
AB 2242 (Dickinson) would make modest amendments to the Education Code to address the overuse of “willful defiance” as a basis for removing students from school by means of expulsion. With over 18,000 expulsions reported in each of the past two school years, it is clear that there is an over-reliance on exclusion to address student behavior, which should be addressed by more pro-active and less harsh measures. AB 2242 provides a more reasoned approach to school discipline and will undercut the disproportionate impact exclusionary measures have on students of color in California.
THE ISSUE
Educ. Code § 48900(k) allows students to be expelled from school for “disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of school staff.” Neither “willfully defying” nor “disrupting school activities” is defined anywhere in the Educ. Code; as such, § 48900(k) is largely left to the arbitrary judgment of school personnel. Under this highly subjective category, which is just one of some 24 ways that a child can be expelled, students are removed from school for 30 school days or moreand denied valuable instructional time for anything from failing to turn in homework, not paying attention, refusing to follow directions, taking off a coat or hat, or swearing in class.
Two decades of research confirms that out-of-school punishments do not work. They do not improve student behavior and often exacerbate the problem. Students who are excluded from school are far more likely to drop out of school and enter the juvenile delinquency system, at great cost to the state, than students whose problem behaviors are addressed proactively with research-based interventions in school and with parents. Further, research reveals that students of color are disproportionately suspended and expelled for low level, subjective offenses like willful defiance, and this leads these students to have disproportionately worse educational outcomes than other student groups.
AB 2242 removes the current reference to willful defiance as grounds for expelling a student from school. In its place, it incorporates existing language from the Educ. Code that is more specific in the types of behavior that warrants an expulsion, including harassment, threats, and intimidation that rise to the level of materially disrupting class work, creating substantial disorder, and invading the rights of students and school personnel by creating a hostile education environment. The actual impact on the total number of expulsions imposed would be relatively small. Unofficial data obtained from the California Department of Education reveals that school districts cited “willful defiance” as the most serious offense for only 12% or fewer of the 21,500 expulsions in 2010-11 or 2,500 children statewide. Finally, the bill preserves “willful defiance” as agrounds to suspend for up to 5 days for each offense, while ensuring that the harshest form of school discipline, expulsion, is reserved for only the most serious misconduct.
SUPPORTERS
Public Counsel; Youth Law Center (Co-Sponsors); Los Angeles Unified; Oakland Unified; Calif. State PTA; LA Area Chamber of Commerce; ACLU; Black Organizing Project; Black Parallel School Board; CA Assn. for Parent-Child Advocacy; CRLAFoundation; Calif. State Conference of the NAACP; Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice; Children Now; Children's Defense Fund; Community Asset Development Re-defining Education; Community Coalition; Congregations Building Community; DREDF; Disability Rights Legal Center; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; Gay-Straight Alliance Network; Inner City Struggle; Labor/Community Strategy Center; Legal Advocates for Children & Youth; Legal Services for Children; MALDEF; National Center for Youth Law; Northern Calif. Assn. of Counsel for Children; PICO Calif.; PolicyLink; Restorative Schools Vision Project; Youth and Education Law Project, Mills Legal Clinic; Youth Justice Coalition.