The U.S. Department of Education has issued new guidance warning schools against changing student-discipline policies for the purpose of reducing racial disparities, prompting concern from civil-rights and education advocates.
The guidance, issued Aug. 18 by the department’s Office for Civil Rights, says schools must discipline students without treating them differently because of race. It argues that revising rules specifically to produce more racially balanced outcomes may itself constitute discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The department maintains that discipline should be determined by individual behavior—not racial statistics—and that every student should receive equal treatment. The guidance follows the department’s July decision to remove regulations that allowed discriminatory effects, even without evidence of discriminatory intent, to be considered in federal civil-rights enforcement.
The policy could have a significant impact on Black students, who have historically received suspensions and expulsions at disproportionately high rates. Federal civil-rights data cited by Reuters found that Black boys were nearly twice as likely as white boys to receive an out-of-school suspension or expulsion. Black girls were nearly twice as likely as white girls to receive in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions or expulsions.
The data also showed that Black preschool students received out-of-school suspensions at nearly twice their share of preschool enrollment.
Education-equity advocates argue that schools cannot correct these disparities if they are discouraged from examining race and discipline data. Eric Duncan, director of P-12 policy at EdTrust, said ignoring race would make it more difficult to address the unusually harsh punishment Black students have experienced.
Supporters of the administration’s approach say discipline rules should be applied consistently and that students should never receive different punishment solely because of their race.
The disagreement centers on whether race-neutral rules can still produce unfair outcomes—and whether schools should be permitted to consider those outcomes when improving their policies.
