School Discipline and "Racial Equity" in St. Paul

Katherine Kersten joins Brian Anderson to discuss how public school leaders in St. Paul, Minnesota abandoned student discipline—and unleashed mayhem—in the name of "racial equity." In January 2014, the Obama administration's Departments of Education and Justice issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to every school district in the country, laying out guidelines to local officials for how to avoid racial bias when suspending or expelling students. Equity proponents view "disparate impact"—when the same policies yield different outcomes among demographic groups—as conclusive proof of discrimination. But nearly half a decade before that order was announced, the superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools had already embarked on a crusade to dismantle the purported "school-to-prison pipeline"—with disastrous effects for teachers and students. Read Katherine's piece in the Winter 2017 Issue of City Journal, "No Thug Left Behind."