COLUMBIA, S.C. — Each year, hundreds of South Carolina children are suspended or expelled from school — before they even reach kindergarten.
The ill effects on their brain development, mental health, future education outcomes, and family well-being can be so dire that some experts call exclusionary discipline the “preschool-to-prison pipeline.”
“Once a child is suspended, they're more likely to be suspended again, they're more likely to be recommended for expulsion, they're more likely to do poorly in school and have poor academic outcomes, they're less likely to read on grade level, they're more likely to drop out. And then of course, with that, too, then they're more likely to end up incarcerated down the road,” said Jennifer Rainville with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center.
On Thursday, South Carolina’s Children’s Committee received newly released data from the State Department of Education in hopes of studying a solution.
Data shows there were 1,800 suspensions during the 2022-2023 school year. That’s double the amount in 2016-2017.
Rainviell said children with disabilities and African-American students are disproportionately affected.
Rainville said that not included in the data are so-called soft expulsions. These are actions by preschools that make it hard for families to keep bringing their children, essentially forcing them to withdraw.
“I think it's really important that people who don't have children understand what's happening right now to our kids, because this is going to be your problem that's going to continue to persist and impact us long term if we don't get it under control,” said Rainville.
Advocates like Rainville are pushing for legislation that defines expulsion and suspension criteria to better track these incidents. They also advocate for enhanced resources for evaluating children for Individual Education Programs (IEPs).
Senator Deon Tedder is championing a bill to provide parents with detailed notices about the expulsion process, including legal rights and access to evidence.
“A lot of times these are students that just made a mistake and maybe suspension is better but if they don’t have anybody to articulate these defenses,” said Tedder. “so just diving into the details more to ensure that we keep our kids in school.”
Tedder's bill has Senate approval and awaits House consideration. Meanwhile, another bill aimed at training school staff and collecting suspension data did not progress this year.