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As of July 1, school administrators can no longer suspend students for low-level behavior problems, also known as “willful defiance.” Justifications for an intentional suspension of resistance may include violating the dress code, being late to class, talking back to teachers, refusing to turn off their cell phones, or anything else that “disrupts school activities or otherwise intentionally violates the valid authority of the defies school personnel,” according to California Education Code.
SB 274, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, bans willful defiance suspensions and expulsions in California high schools through 2029 and extends an existing ban on willful defiance suspensions in California high schools through the same year. The bans also affect charter schools.
Under the new law, unruly children can be removed from classrooms without being suspended. Instead of pulling them out of school, it would be up to administrators to provide appropriate interventions and support in school.
Equality was a motivation for drafting this law. Skinner’s office cited in the September press release the disproportionate impact of opposition suspensions on “students of color, LGBTQ students, students who are homeless or in foster care, and people with disabilities,” prompting the bill’s passage in the Legislature power was announced.
Proponents of the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Sacramento’s Black Parallel School Board, argue that suspensions based on willful disobedience disproportionately affect black students, imposing punitive measures rather than providing the support needed to improve that behavior . Statewide, black students make up 14% of disobedience-only suspensions, while representing just 5% of enrollment.
Are certain groups of students in Sacramento disproportionately affected by defiance-only suspensions? And how can Sacramento schools eliminate this type of suspension as they strive for orderly classrooms?
Defiance-only suspensions are high in Sacramento
According to state data for the 2022-2023 school year, 10.49% of suspensions in Sacramento county schools were categorized as defiant, compared to just 6.44% of suspensions statewide. Total suspensions of any type are also higher in Sacramento, 8.9% versus 5.6% statewide.
The trend of these suspensions disproportionately affecting Black students is very clear in Sacramento: In the county’s school districts, Black students make up 10.3% of enrollment, but 26% of defiance-only suspensions.
Other living conditions also correspond to higher suspension rates. Non-duplicate students, that is, students who are English language learners, qualify for free or reduced lunch, or are foster youth, are also overrepresented in defiance-only suspensions. Statewide, non-duplicated students make up 74% of defiance-only suspensions, but students in Sacramento fare slightly better, accounting for only 67% of defiance-only suspensions.
Hispanic students were slightly overrepresented in the county’s figures. They were responsible for 33.9% of suspensions for unauthorized exclusion, while representing 32.6% of the county’s registrations.
Asian and white students in Sacramento were much less likely to be suspended for defiance. Asian students, who make up 17.2% of the province’s enrollment, receive just 3.2% of defiance-only suspensions. White students make up 27% of enrollments and received 23.2% of defiance-only suspensions.
Charter schools are not immune to this phenomenon. Charter schools in Sacramento have a lower overall suspension rate and a lower defiance-only suspension rate, but Black students account for 64.6% of defiance-only suspensions despite representing only 10.2% of enrolled students.
Both charter and public schools in Sacramento had similar rates of defiance-only suspensions among non-duplicated students.
How one school district eliminated the defiance-only suspension
Natomas Unified School District stands out among Sacramento districts as having the lowest defiance-only suspension rate (less than 1%), and that is no coincidence. The Natomas Unified Board of Trustees passed a resolution in October 2021 to end the intentional suspension of schools as part of an effort to implement systemic changes that would benefit male students of color.
“We did that well in advance of any (state) policy because we felt like we really needed to emphasize how we can support our students with other means of intervention,” Chief Academic Officer Angela Herrera said. She mentioned the district’s partnership with Improvement Your Tomorrow, an educational nonprofit dedicated to uplifting young men of color and preventing them from falling victim to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Herrera said that while the change was “certainly positive,” significant district investment was needed to ensure that students received intervention services and that classrooms did not fall into chaos due to repeated disruptions. The district focused on providing staff training on restorative practices and community building skills. Addressing bad behavior in the classroom starts with having a strong personal relationship between a student and a trusted adult, Herrera said.
The goal is to prevent disruptive behavior, but in the event that there is significant disruption in the classroom that disrupts the learning environment for other students, the district has a protocol in place. If a student’s behavior has risen to that level, school administrators can step in to arrange mediating conferences between the student and teacher to repair their relationship. Each school site also has a psychologist and counselor to help get to the root of the student’s problem.
Providing trauma-informed staff training has been one of the biggest undertakings in eliminating suspensions due to intentional defiance, and it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, Herrera said.
“It takes work, training and dedication,” Herrera said. “Change is hard and I don’t want to portray it through rose-colored lenses, but it is worth it.”
Administrators at the Sacramento City Unified School District say they have taken a similar approach, despite not completely banning intentional suspensions. The district’s defiance-only suspension rate is 4%, less than half the provincial average. Chief Academic Officer Yvonne Wright said this type of suspension is treated as a last resort rather than immediate disciplinary action.
“This new law should not change much for Sac City Unified as we have worked hard in recent years to reduce suspensions and identify alternative and restorative forms of discipline,” Wright said. “SB 274 encourages schools to implement restorative practices, investigate root causes, implement supportive strategies, and offer counseling services; which we have all already done.”
School districts with the highest rates of defiance-only suspensions
Sacramento school districts varied widely in the rate at which they suspended students for willful defiance. Like Natomas and Sacramento City Unified, other districts with lower suspensions for defiance-only include Elk Grove Unified School District (5%), Folsom Cordova Unified School District (5.9%), and River Delta Joint Unified School District (0.32 %). The Galt Joint Union High School District came in above the state average, but below the county average, at 7.3%.
A few districts far exceeded the national and provincial averages. Defiance-only suspensions accounted for 14.3% of total suspensions in the Center Joint Unified School District, 13.9% in the Robla Elementary School District (despite having only elementary schools), 13.4% in the Sacramento County Office of Education (which includes primarily charter and educational institutions). alternative schools) and 16.4% in Twin Rivers Unified School District.
The San Juan Unified School District far outpaced all other districts in the region, with 22.8% of suspensions categorized as defiance only. The district’s public high schools had the worst suspension rates, but several middle schools and elementary schools still showed a significant number of suspensions based solely on defiance, despite being banned in primary and secondary schools by that point.
Despite this high number of suspensions at San Juan Unified, a district spokesperson said administrators are preparing to implement SB 274 this school year.
“Over the past several years, we have worked to reduce house suspensions and exclusionary discipline for all students, while also focusing on our most marginalized students and their disproportionate suspension rates,” said Raj Rai, director of communications at San Juan. United. “We have expanded our recovery-oriented practices, as well as positive behavioral supports and interventions. We have also hired additional staff such as mental health therapists, school social workers, school counselors, behaviorists and trauma-informed coordinators to support this work.”
