Suspension tension

SB 81 would break Oklahoma’s obligation to educate all kids

Article 13 of the Oklahoma Constitution begins: “The Legislature shall establish and maintain a system of free public schools wherein all the children of the State may be educated.” That commitment to educate all of the children in our state is prominent in our founding document. Yet in the face of shrinking resources for schools, higher class sizes, and more inexperienced teachers, some Oklahoma lawmakers are proposing we go in the opposite direction. To establish better control over classrooms, Senate Bill 81 by Sen. Ron Sharp (R-Shawnee) proposes to suspend more kids—effectively giving up on Oklahoma’s obligation to provide them with an education.

The bill, which passed the Senate and now awaits a hearing in the House, would extend the law allowing out-of-school suspensions from sixth grade and up all the way down to third graders. Kids as young as eight or nine years old would face out-of-school suspension for two semesters if they are “found to have assaulted, attempted to cause physical bodily injury, or acted in a manner that could reasonably cause bodily injury” to a school employee or volunteer. Some opportunities for appeal are provided in the law, but the default punishment would be suspension, whether or not actual harm to a school employee occurred.

Gene Perry is Policy Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute. For the rest of this article and more, visit okpolicy.org.