Oklahoma lawmakers shouldn’t be defending physically disciplining disabled children at school

It’s extremely embarrassing that we still allow our disabled children to be spanked, hit and paddled at school.

No child should have to deal with that, but it’s truly terrible that we can’t even agree to spare some of our most vulnerable children. 

Yet, for a second year in a row, our lawmakers are spending considerable time debating the merits of sparing “the rod” when it comes to disciplining children.

The outdated concept of corporal punishment isn’t new. 

But it’s proven all but impossible in recent years to fully eradicate the practice in Oklahoma schools despite loads of scientific data that links hitting children to increased domestic violence rates later in life and decreased cognitive development. That doesn’t even touch on the fact that it’s disproportionately wielded on boys and students of color.

Last year’s House debate on the merits of physically disciplining disabled children made Oklahoma a national laughing stock and didn’t make it to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk.

Lawmakers are again trying again to get House Bill 1028 across the finish line. It bans “hitting, slapping, paddling or any other means of inflicting physical pain” on children that have a recognized disability that result in them being on an individualized education program, or IEP, Oklahoma Voice reporter Barbara Hoberock wrote.

I initially wrote about the bill as a reporter for CNHI News in January 2023 after it was first introduced. Last year, there were nearly 121,000 Oklahoma students on an IEP plan.

In 1977, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed corporal punishment in schools, but permits states to set their own rules. 

Oklahoma lawmakers generally have left it up to local districts, though the State Department of Education quietly put rules in place starting in the 2020-21 school year that barred the practice for students with disabilities.

During the 2017-18 school year, over 1 in 5 of Oklahoma’s corporal punishment incidents involved children with disabilities, according to federal statistics. A 2017 Oklahoma law prohibits the use on students with the most “significant cognitive disabilities.” 

I spoke with the former Republican state representative who authored the 2017 law.

Bobby Cleveland said he became interested after his nephew, who was born deaf, told him as an adult that he had been physically disciplined at school. He couldn’t hear the teacher and didn’t understand why he had been hit.

Cleveland said he visited some schools while working on his legislation. He watched a special education teacher strike a child with a ruler.

“She said, ‘I told you no,’ and whacked him,” Cleveland told me at the time. “If she would do that while I’m in there, what do you think happens when you’re not in there?”

It’s one of those interviews that I often think about when the topic of corporal punishment comes up.

Critics of Oklahoma’s efforts to stop the use often misinterpret a Bible verse from Proverbs. I’d argue the Old Testament writers didn’t intend to equate the verse “Whoever spares the rod hates their child, but he who loves them disciplines them” to spanking disabled children.

But in any case, maybe lawmakers shouldn’t use their personal interpretation of scripture to decide how to discipline other people’s children.

In 2023, 27 states loved their children enough to ban the use of corporal punishment on students. Even more prohibit its use on disabled children, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

That same year, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wrote an open letter to governors and school leaders, urging them to end corporal punishment and to create “safe and supportive environments.”

Cardona wrote that the usage of corporal punishment in schools is likely underreported and is associated with higher rates of mental health problems like mood and anxiety disorders, drug and alcohol use, increased aggression and antisocial behavior and decreased academic achievements.

“Additionally, from a public health and public safety perspective, corporal punishment may impress upon students who are subjected to this practice — directly and indirectly — that violence is an acceptable means of problem-solving and conflict resolution, as research shows that the practice is associated with future incidents of domestic violence,” Cardona wrote.

“Schools should be safe places where all students and educators interact in positive ways that foster students’ growth, belonging, and dignity — not places that teach or exacerbate violence and fear,” he wrote.

I agree. 

I sympathize that it can be difficult for a teacher to control student behavior. But as we’ve learned since birth, it’s not OK to deal with our frustrations by hitting someone.

If adults hit one another, they can end up behind bars for abuse or assault.

Children on IEPs already have a lot of challenges to overcome. That could include autism, blindness, deafness, speech impairments, traumatic brain injuries or physical or intellectual disabilities.

Our schools should be safe places for those children.

Oklahoma lawmakers, what are you going to do to ensure they are?