Goal: Support higher academic achievement and graduation rates and protect students’ civil rights by reducing the reliance on exclusionary discipline (i.e., suspensions and expulsions), especially in the youngest grades.

Solution: New York should shorten the maximum length of suspension from 180 to 20 school days (except when required by federal law) and only allow suspensions for the most serious behavior in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3. This can be accomplished by enacting the Solutions Not Suspensions bill.

Why It Works: Putting limits on exclusionary discipline (suspensions and expulsions) reduces barriers to academic and social gains for all students, but especially students of color, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families who are disciplined more often because of institutional and individual biases.