Are schools disciplining students equitably?

December 8, 1999
Web posted at: 10:33 p.m. EST (0333 GMT)

In this story: Riley meets with Jackson Zero-tolerance policy challenged in court RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Department of Education report to be released next week reveals a racial disparity in school suspension rates nationwide, CNN has learned.

During the 1997-1998 school year, the latest year figures were compiled, African-Americans accounted for 32 percent of suspensions for disciplinary reasons, while representing about 17 percent of the total school population.

White students accounted for 51 percent of the disciplinary suspensions, although they comprise 64 percent of the total student population.

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The data, compiled by the department's Office of Civil Rights, revealed that suspensions for Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans were roughly proportionate to their respective populations.

"It's a statistical disparity that causes us to ask questions," an Education Department official said.

The numbers echo the suspension rates compiled by the department in 1994, the last time those rates were counted.

Jackson has been protesting the yearlong expulsions of six black high school students

Riley meets with Jackson

Education Secretary Richard Riley met with the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday and promised to collect data on the national expulsion rate to see if there was a disparity among those students as well.

The department has not compiled national rates on expulsion in the last five years, a spokeswoman said.

In Decatur, Illinois, where Jackson has been protesting the yearlong expulsions of six black high school students for fighting at a football game, the expulsion rate of blacks was twice that of whites in the 1997-98 school year.

In a school system that is about 67 percent white and 32 percent black, eight of the 12 high school students expelled were black, according to the Department of Education.

Zero-tolerance policy challenged in court

Jackson told reporters on Wednesday that he has not yet made a formal request for a civil rights investigation by the department. He suggested he will first await the outcome of an Illinois civil suit that challenges the zero-tolerance disciplinary policy of the Decatur schools.

Jackson cited recent reports that show 90 percent of the nation's schools had zero-tolerance policies in 1997 and in some states the number of expulsions doubled after such policies went into effect.

Jackson said the 1994 Education Department survey showed 3 million students were expelled or suspended that year. Jackson estimated that figure has since tripled to 9 million students.

The report on expulsions will be completed sometime in 2000, Education Department Press Secretary Erica Lepping told CNN.

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