US Education Department Warns Schools Against Adjusting Discipline Policies to Close Racial Gaps

The US Education Department has told schools they cannot change student discipline policies solely to reduce racial disparities, arguing that doing so could amount to unlawful discrimination. The guidance, issued by the department's Office for Civil Rights, comes as federal data continues to show that Black students face higher rates of school discipline than their white peers. The department said schools must apply disciplinary rules without treating students differently because of their race. It warned that changing policies specifically to reduce racial differences in disciplinary outcomes would itself constitute race discrimination. “A school's decision to change its discipline policies with the purpose of avoiding or reducing racial disparities in discipline constitutes race discrimination,” the department said in its guidance.

What does the data show?

A 2023 Education Department report found significant differences in disciplinary rates among students of different races. Black children in public preschools received out-of-school suspensions at a rate nearly twice their share of enrollment, according to the report cited by Reuters. The disparities also continued through K-12 education. Black boys were nearly twice as likely as white boys to receive an out-of-school suspension or expulsion. Black girls were also nearly twice as likely as white girls to receive at least one in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension or expulsion. Eric Duncan, director of P-12 policy at education equity group EdTrust, criticised the new guidance. “You cannot address racial disparities in school discipline by telling schools to ignore race,” Duncan said. “Black students have long faced some of the harshest discipline in our nation's schools.” The latest guidance follows the department's decision last month to remove several disparate-impact regulations that had restricted policies and practices producing discriminatory effects, even when discrimination was not necessarily intended. The changes form part of the Trump administration's wider efforts to roll back diversity initiatives that it argues can result in discrimination based on race or sex.