Under the amendment, a school district would NOT be required to provide a free and appropriate public education to a student with a disability expelled under this provision. This provision would effectively undo the carefully negotiated discipline provisions that were contained in the 1997 IDEA reauthorization legislation. These carefully negotiated protections do not need to be eroded in order to ensure school safety. Schools are already given ample authority under the 1997 law to maintain environments conducive to learning. For example, a student with a disability who brings a gun to school can be immediately removed from school.
Schools can immediately call the police and report crimes committed by students with disabilities.
If the behavior of a child is not related to the child's disability, the child can be disciplined in the same manner as non-disabled children. While education services cannot be terminated, a child can be removed from his home school and placed in an alternative setting. Moreover, law enforcement agencies across the country report that ceasing education services for any child only increases juvenile crime. In fact, research demonstrates that cessation of education services leads to increases in juvenile crime, drop out rates, incarceration and illegal drug use. Rather than releasing troubled children to the streets, a portion of the solution is to require students who are expelled or suspended to continue their education in secure, supervised educational settings.