Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, and Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled, “Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities.” The ranking members requested that the GAO investigate disparities in discipline policies and practices applied to students of color, boys, and students with disabilities.

“After an extensive analysis by the Government Accountability Office, there can be no ignoring the facts of racial biases – facts that the Trump Administration must face head-on and cannot refute,” said Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (NY-10) of the House Judiciary Committee. “The GAO report shows that race plays a significant role in discipline disparities, with students of color suffering harsher punishment in school compared with their peers. To suggest otherwise would require ignoring the major factor in these disparities, and ignorance of the facts can be no excuse for failing these students. Ignoring the impact of race on school discipline would be unconscionable and fail to address a critical issue impacting school performance by students of color. I thank Ranking Member Scott for his dedication to this important issue, and hope the Administration will finally come to grips with the realities faced by students of color. Secretary DeVos and the Department of Education must ensure that the necessary resources and guidelines are in place to address these disturbing racial disparities in our schools, and I hope this report will provide the necessary urgency for quick action on this matter.”

Black students, boys, and students with disabilities are disproportionately disciplined in K-12 public schools. This pattern of disproportionate discipline persists regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of public school students attend.

“The Government Accountability Office has conducted first-of-its-kind analysis of national data which dispels claims that racially disproportionate rates of discipline are based solely on income. The analysis shows that students of color suffer harsher discipline for lesser offenses than their white peers and that racial bias is a driver of discipline disparities,” said Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03). “This report underscores the need to combat these gross disparities by strengthening, not rescinding, the 2014 Discipline Guidance Package, which recommends specific strategies to reduce the disparities without jeopardizing school safety.”

In 2014, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice issued a School Discipline Guidance Package, to remind schools of their legal obligations to administer school discipline without discriminating on the base of race, color, or national origin. Based on the empirical evidence provided in this GAO report, it is critically important the guidance be strengthened, and not rescinded, as some have suggested.  If the Department moves to turn a blind eye to the evidence-based research in this report, it will rob our nation’s students of full civil rights protections and informed decision-making.

FACT SHEET: Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities

REPORT: GAO Report on Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities

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