In California, students with unstable home environments most likely to be sent home from school, new study shows

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that would ban suspensions for low-level behavioral issues across all California schools, expanding policies like LAUSD’s across the state. Since 2019, so-called “willful defiance” suspensions have been prohibited for children in Transitional Kindergarten through 8th grade — and the new piece of legislation, which was authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), expands the ban to students through grade 12.

Though the bill allows teachers to remove a student for difficult behavior, beginning next July, educators will not be able to suspend students for being unruly. Instead, school administrators must determine in-school interventions or support for the student instead of sending them home.

“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 after the legislation was signed.

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