Governor Newsom has just made it extremely difficult for teachers to suspend students who act out behaviorally. He took most of their authority away from teachers.
By July of next year, it will be illegal for public schools in California to suspend students for low-level behavioral issues. He’s criminalizing discipline in the schools.
They do the same thing with criminals. Free passes for minor crimes until they kill someone.
Newsom signed legislation banning “willful defiance” suspensions among TK through 12th grade students throughout the state.
How do you define “willful defiance” and “low-level” misbehavior? It’s subjective, but students can now disrupt activities and defy authority without being suspended.
The law centralizes authority in the government that belongs to the local school district. Senate Bill 274 takes effect July 1, 2024. Under this law, introduced by Democrat state senator Nancy Skinner, “willful defiance” suspensions are barred in grades 6 through 12 with a sunset of July 1, 2029, in all California public schools.
According to Skinner’s office, it bans “willful defiance” suspension in grades TK to 5 and prohibits them in grades 6 to 8 until 2025.
“Since my start in the state Senate in 2016, I’ve worked to end willful defiance suspensions in our public schools. The reason is simple: Suspending students, no matter the age, doesn’t improve student behavior, and it greatly increases the likelihood that the student will fail or drop out,” Skinner said in a statement Monday.
Newsom thinks this is a model for other states and how to approach reforming discipline, which disproportionately affects black and Latino students as well as those with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds.
Black students accounted for 14% of willful defiance suspensions by the end of 2021 through 2020, two school year, even as they made up only 5% of students across the state.
Latino students, who account for 55% of students in California, received 57% of willful defiance suspensions.
The administrators can to remove the students from class for in-school suspension or appropriate help.
[Minority students generally have a hard time because they are not handled well at home or get involved with gangs or drugs.]
The organizations pushing it are far left.
SB 274 is supported by a coalition of more than 60 organizations and sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; American Civil Liberties Union, California Action; Alliance for Boys and Men of Color (Co-Sponsor; Black Parallel School Board; Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE); Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE); Dolores Huerta Foundation; Disability Rights California; East Bay Community Law Center; Generation Up; Mid-City Community Advocacy Network; Public Counsel; Youth Alliance; and Youth Justice Education Clinic – Loyola Law School.
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