A student’s race can no longer be a factor in school discipline policies.
Instead, administrators are now encouraged to design policies that “treat students even-handedly,” reversing Obama-era “disparate impact” guidelines, according to new guidance from the Department of Education.
“For too long, the left’s pursuit of ‘equity’ has perversely required schools to discipline students differently, based on their race; it has prevented teachers from keeping their classrooms safe, put students in harm’s way and severely compromised student learning opportunities,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.
The new guidance urges schools receiving federal funding to establish disciplinary systems that treat students equally and create a “well-ordered learning environment.”
For superintendents, the biggest takeaway is that you’re no longer required to make discipline outcomes racially proportional.
The Education Department also launched two Title VI investigations into school districts that allegedly require staff to consider race when enforcing disciplinary action.
In Fayetteville, Arkansas, teachers were required to consider students’ race when issuing discipline to address “the disproportionality of discipline on students of color,” according to the Education Department.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, administrators allegedly dismissed neutral disciplinary policies as reflecting systemic “whiteness,” the agency says.
The context
Last month, the Education Department scrapped decades-old disparate impact provisions, which identified discrimination based on statistics, regardless of intent. These provisions relied on “demographic data alone” to determine whether a school violated civil rights law, officials said at the time.
Without the provisions, educators can take disciplinary action without fear of investigation.
Civil rights groups criticized the decision at the time. A letter signed by 60 civil rights groups and advocacy organizations argued that “discrimination is not always explicit or overt.”
They cited school closures and disciplinary policies that appear neutral but unfairly harm minority students.
“While undermining civil rights protections is never justified, the Department’s move to overhaul these anti-discrimination regulations without even providing the public with an opportunity to comment is indefensible,” the letter reads.
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