Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), issued the following joint statement after the release of the Trump Administration’s Federal School Safety Commission report, which provides recommendations for arming teachers and rescinding the Obama Administration’s 2014 guidance on school discipline, which includes important recommendations on ways to eliminate disparities in how black students, boys, and students with disabilities are disciplined as compared to their classmates: 

“The Trump Administration’s Federal School Safety Commission report includes dangerous recommendations that would make our schools less safe, exacerbate discrimination in our educational system, and erode polices that promote an atmosphere of learning.

“Unbelievably, the report provides recommendations for the arming of teachers, a strategy borrowed from the wish-list of the NRA and the gun industry, which would create an environment for accidental shootings and an armed climate that is inappropriate for schools.  Instead of aiding the proliferation of guns, we should instead enact measures to prevent guns from getting into the hands of those who are prohibited from possessing them and restrict the availability of military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines that are the arms of choice for mass shooters. 

“It also appears that the Trump Administration is shamefully using the horrific incidents of school shootings to blame minority and disadvantaged students who bear no relationship to or responsibility for these tragedies, by rescinding the Obama Administration’s 2014 guidance on school discipline.  In doing so, the report undermines the appropriate interpretation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a critical protection against policies that have discriminatory impacts on our citizens.”

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