The California State Senate voted Thursday to end a requirement that students who threaten violence against school officials be reported.
Before the California law was passed, existing law stated that whenever a school official is “attacked, assaulted, or physically threatened by any pupil,” staff was “required to promptly report the incident to specified law enforcement authorities.” The new bill repealed this requirement.
California passed the law just two days after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing two adults and 19 children.
The law was endorsed by ACLU California Action. The organization called it a win for racial equality.
“Once students make contact with law enforcement, they are less likely to graduate high school and more likely to wind up in jail or prison. These harms fall disproportionately on students from marginalized groups: Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students,” the organization said in a statement.
The sponsor of the bill, California State Sen. Steven Bradford, told the Daily Caller, “Our existing system has led to alarming disparities in the type of students who are most likely to suffer these harms. Black students, Latinx students, students of color, and students with disabilities are disproportionately referred to law enforcement, cited, and arrested.”
“SB 1273 will reduce law enforcement involvement in schools and give teachers and administrators, who are often best suited to determine the appropriate response, the flexibility and power they need to support students,” Bradford said, explaining that, “Teachers and administrators will still be able to call law enforcement if they believe that is the right response to a particular incident, but they will not be required to do so.”
Reporting from The Daily Caller.