YJEC’s Co-Sponsored Bill to Keep Kids in School Signed by Governor Newsom
Loyola Law School’s Youth Justice Education Clinic (YJEC) is thrilled to announce that the bill it co-sponsored, SB 274, Keep Kids in School (Skinner), was signed into California legislation by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 9, 2023.
SB 274 is designed to keep kids in school by expanding on the previous prohibition of suspensions for low-level behavior issues known as “willful defiance” to include high school students For the past year, YJEC has focused its policy advocacy efforts on raising awareness around the importance of eliminating subjective justifications for suspension such as “willful defiance” that disproportionately impact students with disabilities and students of color. YJEC saw these kinds of suspensions being used against clients in the schools inside of the juvenile detention facilities in Los Angeles County.
“This win today was a huge team effort with our coalition partners such as the ACLU, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, Mid-City CAN, Public Counsel, and more. It is important to recognize the efforts of so many before us who have contributed to the success of SB 274. Before this bill, there was SB 419, which included younger grades in the ban and laid the foundation for the success of SB 274. Changing these oppressive systems and policies may not be quick, but we are committed to creating a brighter future for the client populations we serve,” said YJEC Supervising Attorney Vivian Wong.
In sponsoring SB 274, YJEC partnered with the Fix School Discipline Coalition (FSD-PC), a statewide coalition of organizations that improve school discipline policies and practices in California’s schools. The coalition works together to ensure that school climate protections and support for students and staff exist at the state and local levels. YJEC has been a member organization of FSD-PC since 2020, and on Oct. 5, 2023, welcomed lawyers, advocates, and base-building organizations across California to participate in the 2023 Fix School Discipline Coalition Convening held on the Loyola Law School campus.
“Black students and other students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and students with disabilities are more likely to feel the negative consequences of defiance suspensions, including an increased likelihood of school drop-out and higher rates of contact with the criminal justice system,” says Sara Lucero ‘23, a former teacher who later became a YJEC advocate and then Skadden Fellow.
“We are thrilled that Gov. Newsom has signed SB 274 into law as this will have an immediate impact on our clients, who are overwhelmingly young people of color and students with disabilities, by keeping them in the classroom and avoiding them missing key instructional time,” said YJEC Director Megan Stanton-Trehan. “In addition to helping our clients avoid missing instructional time, this law will prevent them from being punished for what many would consider normal adolescent behavior like talking back to a teacher or using their phone in class. As such, this is a crucial step to combatting the school to prison pipeline for our clients and others like them across California.”
To learn more about YJEC and their work with system-impacted youth, please click here.