West Virginia K–12 Discipline: A Review of Disparate Treatment of Students of Color, Students with Disabilities, and LGBTQ+ Students

The Commission recently found that students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students are more likely to receive harsher punishment than their peers. In particular, a 2019 Commission report found that in K–12 schools students of color as a whole, as well as by individual racial group, do not commit more disciplinable offenses than their white peers—but Black students, Hispanic or Latino students, and Native American students in the aggregate receive substantially more school discipline than their white peers and receive harsher and longer punishments than their white peers receive for like offenses. Students with disabilities are approximately twice as likely to be suspended throughout each school level compared to students without disabilities. Although not a focus of its Briefing Report, the Commission also quoted an American Bar Association (ABA) report recognizing the disproportionate discipline of LGBTQ+ students.