New report reveals California students still face stark, unequal school discipline despite reform efforts

Findings arrive at a time when President Trump Executive Orders on school discipline, bigoted rhetoric and closure of OCR offices threatens CA reform efforts

A new statewide report released today by the National Center for Youth Law exposes alarming and persistent disparities in how California school districts discipline students — especially youth in the foster system and/or experiencing homelessness, Black and American Indian youth, and students with disabilities. The findings arrive at a time when President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are advancing federal rollbacks that directly threaten California’s progress toward equity in education.

"In Harm's Way: The Persistence of Unjust Discipline Experienced by California's Students" shows that while state leaders — including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, the Legislature, and the California Department of Education — have supported important reforms to curb harsh school discipline inequities, many districts continue to suspend and expel students at disproportionately high rates. Most troubling, the report reveals that the very students who need the most support are the ones losing the most instructional time due to suspensions. Much of the report's data can be accessed through an accompanying online web tool that allows users to customize search and sort functions. 

“These numbers should be a wake-up call,” said Dan Losen, Senior Director of Education at the National Center for Youth Law and one of the report's co-authors. “California has promised equity in education, but these findings show that for many students, especially Black and American Indian youth in the foster system or experiencing homelessness, that promise remains broken.”

Among the key findings revealed in the report, which examines five years of data from a seven-year period (two academic years were excluded due to COVID-related closures):

• Students in the foster system lose 76.6 days of instruction per 100 enrolled — seven times the statewide average (10.7 days). Black foster youth fare worst, losing a staggering 121.8 days per 100 enrolled.
• Students experiencing homelessness lose 29.1 days of instruction per 100 enrolled, often for minor misconduct.
• Students with disabilities lose 23.4 days of instruction per 100 enrolled, nearly three times higher than their peers without disabilities.
• Racial gaps remain wide: Black students consistently face harsher punishment than their white peers, and has widened significantly in the last 3 years.
• In many districts, the Black-white suspension gap has increased dramatically over the last seven years.
• The data show that most of the suspensions for the students suspended most often are for minor misconduct that did not involve injury, such as the use of profanity or vulgarity.
• The California Department of Education’s reporting system masks the scope of the crisis, mislabeling suspensions for nonviolent behaviors such as profanity under the misleading categories of “Violent Incident, No Injury.”
• As “Disruption/Defiance” suspensions continue to decline, the data suggest that other subjective offense categories are taking their place.

The report also highlights examples of districts making meaningful progress, such as Los Angeles Unified, which banned suspensions for disruption and defiance more than a decade ago, and Merced Union High, where leadership has invested in a range of new efforts to keep students in school, including adding mental health clinicians and data-driven interventions. But elsewhere, districts like Mojave Unified and Manteca Unified show skyrocketing suspension rates for Black students and foster youth, and raising serious concerns about accountability and oversight.

Recommendations in the report include:

• Strengthening state civil rights enforcement and oversight of district discipline practices, including adding a clear process for filing complaints about discriminatory discipline in the wake of the Department of Education closing its Office for Civil Rights location in California.
• Revising accountability systems and public reporting so that rising rates and widening disparities, especially for non-violent offenses, are not so easily overlooked.
• Expanding support for students in the foster system, experiencing homelessness, and with disabilities.
• Ending suspension for minor and subjective infractions such as profanity and vulgarity, which are fertile ground for implicit biases to impact school staff and administrators' perceptions and actions around discipline.

The report makes clear that while California has led the nation in discipline reform, progress is fragile — and under direct threat from federal efforts to erase diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in education.

“Students have a legal right to equitable, nondiscriminatory treatment in California’s schools,” said Losen. “This data shows we are falling far short of that obligation. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric and ensure every child — regardless of race, disability, or housing status — can have an equitable opportunity to learn, and won’t be denied access for minor misconduct.”

Visit here for the full report, with complete trend analyses for the state and every district. Use the companion webtool here to compare trends in your choice of districts and student groups.

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The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation's approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.