According to state discipline records, Texas educators have been suspending children more frequently in the years since classes resumed following the epidemic. This increase coincides with several reports of pupils experiencing behavioral and mental health problems.
Data released by the Texas Education Agency shows that between 2021–22, when the first full year of classes resumed in person, and 2023–24, the number of out-of-school suspensions given to Texas public school students increased by 11%.
According to state law, every school district must develop a code of conduct for students that specifies what behaviors might lead to a suspension, which prevents the student from returning to campus or attending in-person classes. Fighting, assaulting a school staff, and having drugs or alcohol in one’s possession are common grounds for suspension.
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State law prohibits out-of-school suspensions from lasting longer than three days in a row, though district policies may differ.
A statewide look
As more school administrators used methods of discipline that did not entail removing students from school, the frequency of suspensions gradually decreased in the years preceding the COVID-19 outbreak. The decrease also came after a bill restricting suspensions of pupils in the second grade and below was passed by state lawmakers in 2017.
However, the trend changed after students took virtual classes for portions of two academic years. The previous school year saw 403,900 suspensions, up from roughly 362,200 in 2021–2022. Since 2015–16, Texas schools have not reported more than 400,000 suspensions.
Trends in Texas suspensions coincide with national concerns about how the epidemic is impairing students’ behavioral development. According to a National Center for Education Statistics poll from 2022, 84 percent of public school administrators believed that the quarantine had a detrimental impact on student behavior, especially disruptions in the classroom brought on by misbehavior. More training on classroom management techniques is needed, according to 50% of public school administrators.
Data by district
The biggest school districts in the Greater Houston area reported out-of-school suspension rates in 2023–2024 that ranged from 3 to 21 suspensions per 100 students. Cypress-Fairbanks and Aldine ISDs had the most out-of-school suspensions in the spring.
In the 2023–24 school year, Spring ISD had three times as many out-of-school suspensions per 100 pupils as the state. In October 2024, members of the spring board deliberated on a plan to cut all forms of student discipline, including suspensions, by 10%.
For suspension rates and other data for any Texas school district with relevant data published by the Texas Education Agency, search the database below. For the sake of student privacy, districts with less than ten out-of-school suspensions are excluded from the statistics.
Why it matters
The increase in out-of-school suspensions coincides with the ongoing discussion over pulling children out of school.
Some instructors contest the practice, claiming it harms students’ learning, graduation, and employment opportunities. Some argue that in order to safeguard other students and staff and provide a safe atmosphere for them to learn and work, out-of-school suspensions are required.
According to a widely reported 2011 research on school discipline in Texas, pupils who had been suspended or expelled were seven times more likely to be associated with the juvenile prison system and six times more likely to repeat a grade.
Data on out-of-school suspensions for the first half of the 2024–25 academic year has not yet been released by the Texas Education Agency.
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