Rural Policy Matters: December 2012

The December 2012 issue of Rural Policy Matters is devoted to issues of school violence. Inside you’ll find two infographics charting mass school violence, with information you won’t find elsewhere. We also look at school violence from two policy perspectives. In “Zero Tolerance: Targeting the Wrong Kids” we offer a brief look the disjuncture between the characteristics of students who receive harsh discipline and the characteristics of those who have committed mass school violence; and we’ll look at some of the unintended consequences. (Hint: the U.S. has a very long history of students feeling they have been disciplined unfairly, going home and getting a gun, and returning to school to shoot someone – usually a teacher or principal.) In the short reflection piece: “How Much Can Schools Do?” we’ll consider school security policies and whether we are increasingly asking schools and teachers to do the impossible. This issue also includes Rural School Funding News, and a graph.

Facts and Figures About States With Highest Funding Per Rural Student

Question: Which 10 states spend more than $7,000 on instruction per rural student?

About This Special Issue

Every incidence of school violence is a tragedy, a loss of a future for a child, a family, a neighborhood. In the U.S. we have a culture of violence, against children that takes many forms and periodically erupts in dramatic, concentrated, and undeniable forms in acts of mass violence. We at the Rural Trust remember all victims of violence, especially child victims, and think especially of the Newtown, Chardon, Omaha, Red Lake…. communities. This issue of RPM is intended to add to what we hope will be a serious national conversation about how the U.S. will end the violent events and circumstances that rob our children and our nation of so much of our future.

Infographic: Mass Violence in U.S. K-12 Schools, 1972-2012

This infographic compiles information from mass school violence incidents in the U.S. and includes information about the place, the locale, the number of victims, and age of perpetrators, along with additional information about other school violence ev

Infographic: A Look at Mass School Violence Data

This infographic includes short concise charts providing visual analysis of key aspects of school violence: numbers of student and teacher victims, age of perpetrators, breakdown of gun violence and other forms of physical violence, incidents by state.

Zero Tolerance: Targeting the Wrong Kids

In the late 1990s, in the wake of school shootings, U.S. schools began instituting “zero tolerance” discipline policies. The goal was to make schools safer by mandating suspension and expulsion for a variety of school misbehaviors. However, those policies have sometimes backfired in terms of violence prevention. And, the policies have been a means to administer severe, future-compromising discipline to certain groups of students disproportionately, even though the students most targeted in zero tolerance polices are actually committing fewer acts of violence at school than other students.

How Much Can Schools Do?

Are school safety mandates another example of requiring schools and teachers to fix problems over which they have very little control? What does it mean that schools are asked to take on so many non-educational tasks that are not addressed in other forms of policy? The data suggest that schools have thwarted a number of mass violence events, but why don’t we hear about those heroic actions, too?

U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hears How Student Are Pushed from Schools

This month’s hearing is the first public federal acknowledgement of the school to prison pipeline crisis.

Office of Civil Rights Report Reflects Dramatically Increased Enforcement Activity

A report summarizing OCR’s enforcement and investigation activity over the past four years and its involvement in never-before addressed issues including sexual violence, bullying and harassment and charter schools, among others.

Louisiana Voucher Law Fails in Courts

Governor Bobby Jindal’s voucher law prevents districts from complying with desegregation orders and violates the state constitution, judges say.

Arkansas Court Decision Jeopardizes Lake View Funding Reforms

The Arkansas Supreme Court may have opened the door to reduced education finance adequacy and equity in the state according to education advocates.

School Violent Crime: Incidence and Locale Code, 2009-10

School violence reports analyzed by number of incidents and locale of school.