California schools tried to cover up their expulsion rates. Now, a state hotline is trying to call them out

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- For years, school districts in California have masked their official suspension and expulsion rates by quietly pushing so-called problem students from the classroom. Sometimes, it’s as simple as sending them home early. Other times, it’s as extreme as forcing kids to transfer to another school.

Now, state education officials have a new plan to expose a practice that they say disproportionately impacts marginalized students and allows districts to fly under the education codes meant to protect children from excessive discipline. It’s a new hotline that lets parents and students report over-the-top punishments in California schools.

“Taking students out of learning time through suspensions and expulsions is proven to push them toward the criminal justice system,” State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said in a news release. “School districts trying to hide actual discipline rates through practices such as masking expulsions as transfers will not be tolerated.”

In California and throughout the country, rates of both suspensions and expulsions measure highest for students of color, homeless students, and students living with disabilities. Throughout California, 8% of Black students were suspended last year, compared with 3.2% of students statewide. The rate for expulsions among Black students was double that of the average student.

Expulsions and suspensions in early grades often predict similar discipline as students get older, experts say. And that creates a domino effect that can lead to academic failure, dropping out of school, and incarceration later in life, particularly for Black boys. The stakes are just as high for homeless students and those with disabilities, said Daniel Losen, the director of...