SB 101: School Discipline

How does this legislation impact the wellbeing of Kentucky’s 660,000 public school students? 

While school violence is a documented issue in Kentucky, the excessively punitive nature of this bill will exacerbate the “school to prison pipeline” that affects Kentucky students while failing to address the root causes of school violence. 

This bill will disproportionally affect minority students.  Studies show that students of color, students with disabilities, and male students  are overrepresented at every stage of the juvenile justice system. Allowing minors as young as fourteen years old to be tried as adults for 3rd degree violations will have lifelong negative impacts on both the student and surrounding community. 

Additionally, at a time when alternative schools across Kentucky face budget cuts and even near-closures, required expelling of students will place additional burdens on already struggling schools. The ambiguous wording of this bill leaves no room for nuanced situations. It is unclear what “attempted assault” means; this lack of definition does a disservice to students. 

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Is this legislation in-line with the 7 capacities of a constitutionally adequate education as defined by the Kentucky Constitution? 

A student’s ability to receive a quality education, and attain any of the 7 capacities, is greatly hindered when that student spends an inordinate amount of time in the criminal justice system, rather than the classroom.

Students’ that spend time in the criminal justice system as minors are 15% more likely than their peers to drop out of the education system entirely, and 11% less likely to enroll in a 4-year university degree program. 

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What is the broader impact of this legislation on Kentucky public schools, including on educators, parents, and other education stakeholders? 

Youth incarceration is not a new issue in the United States, nor in Kentucky. Decades of research has been conducted on the impact of expanding the sentencing and incarceration of youth. The results are clear: minors involved in the criminal justice system are 17% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 20% more likely to be incarcerated as an adult. 

Youth incarceration makes our communities more unsafe by limiting the education and thus economic mobility of young people. Kentucky cannot afford to further jeopardize the future of young people by increasing the likelihood that they will be in the criminal justice system.