Lawyers for Racial Justice: Ending School Pushouts - Instructions

Project Overview:

For over two years, Lawyers for Good Government’s policy team has been building alliances with nonprofit organizations at the crossroads of racial justice and children’s rights. We work with these partners to identify their legal research needs, work with you, our pro bono partners to conduct legal research to meet those needs. So far, we have partnered on three separate issues — Corporal Punishment in Schools, Police in Schools, and Child Farmworkers — to the great appreciation of our nonprofit partners. We were recently approached by another nonprofit partner requesting assistance on ending school pushouts, and we look forward to working with you again to provide this vital assistance.

Federally, there is a bill known as the Ending PUSHOUT Act, introduced by Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, which seeks to end unnecessary suspensions and expulsions, and especially the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of children of color. As Congresswoman Pressley’s office describes:

“Black girls are 7 times more likely to be suspended from school and 4 times more likely to be arrested at school, compared to white girls. Even as early as preschool, where Black girls make up only 20% of all girls, they make up more than half of all out of school suspensions.
Latina girls are 1.6 times more likely than white girls to receive an out of school suspension.
Native American youth make up just one percent of students in school, yet Native American girls are three times more likely to be suspended than white girls.
Corporal punishment (e.g., spanking and paddling) is still permitted in 19 states across the country and is disproportionately administered on Black students and students with disabilities.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students of color are almost twice as likely to be suspended as their white peers.
Increased policing in schools has been shown to increase surveillance and criminalization of students—especially students of color.”

This project aims to conduct a 50 state analysis of state laws around suspension and expulsion in K-12 public schools, to help allies fighting for reform at the state and national levels.

Instructions for Participating Attorneys:

We recommend that during the research process, you gather your findings in a Word or Google document; once you have completed your research, please copy/paste your findings into the corresponding fields using this online form.

Questions? Email probono@L4GG.org.

In the form, you will be asked the following questions.

1. State/Territory. Please insert the state/territory that you have been assigned.
2. Team Assignment. Please indicate if you are on Team 1 or Team 2 for your assigned state.
3. Summary with Citations.

Please provide all relevant statutory provisions defining suspension and expulsion,
the administrative rules and procedures for permitting suspension and expulsion, and
any relevant case law.
Please provide a brief summary, using bluebook citations to all relevant laws, and provide hyperlinks to those laws as described above.
If a state has different rules for suspension and expulsion by grade range, please describe these rules separately.

For instance, in Maryland you could provide the following:

Md. Code Educ. § 7-301 et seq. contains all provisions in the Maryland code pertaining to school discipline in K-12 public schools. These are implemented in Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11. The Maryland code provides different rules for suspension and expulsion by grade range. There are two grade ranges: kindergarten through 2nd grade (grades K-2) and 3rd grade through 12th grade (grades 3-12).

1. Suspensions are allowed for up to five days in grades K-2

In Kindergarten through 2nd grade, the Maryland code describes that students may not be expelled, unless required by federal law, or if the student is expelled for up to 5 school days “if the school administration, in consultation with a school psychologist or other mental health professional, determines that there is an imminent threat of serious harm to other students or staff that cannot be reduced or eliminated through interventions and supports.” Md. Code Educ. § 7-305.1 (b)(2)(ii).

2. In Grades 3-12, students can be suspended for up to 10 days by a principal, or given an extended suspension (11-45 day) or Expulsion (45+ day) by the county superintendent

In grades 3-12, the Maryland code describes three kinds of suspensions and expulsions, suspensions for 10 or fewer days, suspensions for 11 or more days, and expulsions. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305. The Maryland code provides different procedures for suspensions for less than 10 days, and more than 10 days. Expulsions use the same procedures as suspensions for more than 10 days. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305.

a. Short-term suspensions (1-3 day), Long-term Suspensions (4-10 day), and In-school suspensions (1-10 day), by principals in Grades 3-12.

Suspensions for 10 or fewer days can be made by principals. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (a). The Maryland code provides that these suspensions “(1)...in accordance with the rules and regulations of the county board, each principal of a public school may suspend for cause, for not more than 10 school days, any student in the school who is under the direction of the principal. (2) The student or the student's parent or guardian promptly shall be given a conference with the principal and any other appropriate personnel during the suspension period. (3) The student or the student's parent or guardian promptly shall be given a community resources list provided by the county board in accordance with § 7-310….” Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (a).

Furthermore “a student may not be suspended or expelled from school solely for attendance-related offenses”, unless that is an in-school suspension. Md. Code R. § 7-305 (b).

Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11 further requires that students who receive short-term suspensions (1-3 day) must be given the opportunity to complete the academic work they miss during their suspension without penalty, and to provide the students, and their parents or guardians with a school employee who will coordinate that work. Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11 (G). It does not make a similar provision for long-term suspensions. Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11.

The Maryland code of regulations also creates a category of in-school suspensions as “the removal within the school building of a student from the student's current education program for up to but not more than 10 school days in a school year for disciplinary reasons by the school principal.” Md. Code Educ. § 13A.08.01.11 (B)(4). A student must be informed of the reasons for the in-school suspension and be given an opportunity to respond before it becomes effective, the principal “shall provide the student's parents with written notification of the in-school suspension action taken by the school [and] after 10 days of cumulative in-school suspension, the student, the student's parents or guardian, and the principal shall confer.” Md. Code Educ. § 13A.08.01.11 (C)(2). The school shall “make provision for the student’s education” during the suspension. Md. Code Educ. § 13A.08.01.11 (C)(2)(e).

It also defines removing the child from their classroom not to be an in-school suspension if “the student is afforded the opportunity to continue to: (i) Appropriately progress in the general curriculum; (ii) Receive the special education and related services specified on the student's IEP, if the student is a student with a disability in accordance with COMAR 13A.05.01; (iii) Receive instruction commensurate with the program afforded to the student in the regular classroom; and (iv) Participate with peers as they would in their current education program to the extent appropriate.

b. Extended suspensions (11-45 day) and Expulsions (45+ day) by county superintendents in Grades 3-12

Expulsions (45+ day) and extended suspensions (11-45 day) must be made by county superintendents at the request of a principal. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (c); Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11.

The principal must “immediately report the matter in writing to the county superintendent”, after which the superintendent or their representative “promptly shall make a thorough investigation of the matter” after which, should the superintendent or their representative determine “a longer suspension or expulsion is warranted, the county superintendent or the county superintendent's designated representative promptly shall arrange a conference with the student and his parent or guardian”. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (d)(1-3). “The student or the student's parent or guardian promptly shall be given a community resources list provided by the county board in accordance with § 7-310….” Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (d)(4).

The student or student’s parent or guardian may: “(i) Appeal to the county board within 10 days after the determination; (ii) Be heard before the county board, its designated committee, or a hearing examiner, in accordance with the procedures established under § 6-203 of this article; and (iii) Bring counsel and witnesses to the hearing.” Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (d)(5). The hearing is private, unless the parent or guardian requests a public hearing, the appeal to that hearing does not stay the suspension or expulsion, and the county board’s decision in that hearing has no further administrative appeal. Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (d)(6-8).

If the county superintendent finds that a student brought a firearm onto school property, “the student shall be expelled for a minimum of 1 year… but on a case by case basis, a shorter period of expulsion or an alternative educational setting, if alternative educational settings have been approved by the county board, for a student who has brought a firearm onto school property.” Md. Code Educ. § 7-305 (f).

Extended suspensions (11-45 day) may only be conducted if:

“(a) The superintendent or designated representative has determined that:

(i) The student's return to school prior to the completion of the suspension period would pose an imminent threat of serious harm to other students and staff; or

(ii) The student has engaged in chronic and extreme disruption of the educational process that has created a substantial barrier to learning for other students across the school day, and other available and appropriate behavioral and disciplinary interventions have been exhausted.

(b) The superintendent or designated representative limits the duration of the exclusion to the shortest period practicable; and

(c) The school system provides the excluded student with comparable educational services and appropriate behavioral support services to promote successful return to the student's regular academic program.” Md. Code R. § 13A.08.01.11 (B)(3).

Expulsions (45+ day) may only be conducted if:

“(a) The superintendent or designated representative has determined that the student's return to school prior to the completion of the expulsion period would pose an imminent threat of serious harm to other students or staff;

(b) The superintendent or designated representative limits the duration of the exclusion to the shortest period practicable; and

Tools:

When conducting this research, we request your assistance to ensure that the law is accurate, up-to-date, and based on all applicable state law – all relevant statutes, any relevant regulations implementing that statute, and any relevant caselaw that might affect the meaning of the statute. We also separately request public versions of these laws, regulations, and cases so that readers of our reports (advocates, legislators, and the public) may freely and easily access the sources we cite. Please use the tools we describe below:
- Your Westlaw or Lexis Account. We request that you do all research in your Westlaw or Lexis Account. These are the most accurate and up-to-date, and importantly include references to the relevant case law and often regulations.
- Casetext.com. Upon review of all the free services, this is our preferred publicly available resource of the state codes of each jurisdiction, so that advocates, legislators, and the public can quickly view the state code without hitting a Westlaw or Lexis paywall. Please provide a hyperlink citation to casetext.com for each statute cited unless it is, for some reason, unavailable. A simple google search with the relevant statutory provision and casetext.com, nearly always returns the relevant code provision.
- Justia. This is another publicly available resource of the state codes of each jurisdiction. It is often a year, out of date in comparison to Casetext.com, but includes something Casetext.com does not include, previous versions of state codes by year. If for some reason a statute is not available at casetext.com, or if you need to cite to a historical version of a state statute, please provide a Justia.com hyperlink citation to the most recent version of the statute or the relevant historical version of the statute as appropriate.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute. This is a publicly available resource of state regulations, maintained by Cornell law school.
- Google Scholar. This is a publicly available resource of case law. While it is developed and maintained by Google, it is separate from a standard google search and must be conducted from scholar.google.com, and then clicking on the “case law” button.
- Google Chrome Web Browser (optional). We understand that not all firms are able to use the Google Chrome Web Browser, but if you can, we do request that you use it. Google Chrome has a feature where if you right click on text in a webpage (not a PDF) you can see an option “copy link to highlight” and when someone clicks that link in the future, they are brought to the exact text you highlighted, what we call a hyperlink pinsite, which allows readers to see exactly what the researcher intended in large documents.
For instance, if opened in the Google Chrome web browser (or some other web browsers), Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954) (highlighting text on page 493 “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.”)

Once you have completed your research, please submit your responses (with citations/links) using this online form. Thank you for contributing to this important project.