Misbehavior: Alternatives to School Referrals and Arrests

In 2014, the Obama administration opened investigations into the civil rights implications of school discipline policies that targeted students of color and issued guidance urging districts to find alternatives to exclusionary disciplinary practices.11 The administration also warned schools that they could violate Title IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which relates to fair and nondiscriminatory treatment in schools receiving federal aid) if their disciplinary policies had “disparate impact” on certain racial or ethnic groups. This meant that even without discriminatory intent (mention of race), disciplinary policies could violate civil rights laws if they led to higher rates of discipline for only some groups of students. However, in 2018, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidance.12

School referrals to law enforcement and arrests are more common at schools with SROs. With an estimated $2 billion in federal and state funds spent on SROs since 1999, partnerships between local leaders and local law enforcement place 14,000-20,000 sworn officers in schools across the nation at any given time.13

Because serious crime rarely occurs on school grounds, these SROs spend most of their time investigating minor incidents.14 Even controlling for poverty level, schools with SROs have double the amount of school-based arrests for disorderly conduct as schools without them.15

With the practice of school referrals to law enforcement on the rise, so are the number of children being arrested, charged, and locked up without regard for the long-term emotional, social, and developmental impacts and harms such punishment can have on students. While zero-tolerance policies have had no measurable impact on school safety, the negative impacts of such policies on students are well documented. 16

Disrupting Education

During the 2017-2018 school year, students missed 11,205,797 total days of school due to out-of-school-suspensions.17

Like suspensions, arrests and expulsions can critically jeopardize students’ educational attainment. School arrests and referrals can have negative impacts on school achievement and engagement as well as young adult outcomes. When schools punish students for minor infractions with harsh penalties, those students suffer from declines in attendance and test scores.18 One study found that a student’s odds of graduating high school can be reduced by over 70% due to police encounters, ranging from simple contact to arrests.19

The achievement gap—the difference in the average standardized test scores of white and Black students—has long been a measure of persistent racial inequities in educational outcomes across the country. Such racial disparities in school achievement have been linked to disparities in school discipline.20 An increase in either the discipline gap or the academic achievement gap between Black and white students can predict a jump in the other. School completion represents a critical transition to adulthood and is an increasingly important factor in social stratification.

Racial disparities in young adult criminal justice outcomes, food stamp assistance, and college completion can be traced to disparate exposure to school discipline.21 Therefore, delays and disruptions to education can dramatically alter life trajectories related to work and family.22