Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of Education to review and roll back federal policies that prevent teachers from disciplining disruptive students. It’s a long-overdue move.
For over a decade, misguided federal guidance rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology and “disparate impact” theory has tied the hands of educators and created a culture of disorder in America’s classrooms. This new action could mark a turning point in restoring order, accountability, and respect for the teaching profession.
Teachers across America are sounding the alarm: student behavior is out of control, and the systems meant to support them are doing the opposite. In a 2023 EdWeek survey, 7 in 10 educators reported worsening behavior. And a Fordham Institute survey revealed that over 75% of teachers agree that a handful of troublemakers disrupt learning for everyone.
The Left’s social engineering in public education has reached its most destructive point: the death of discipline. Across the country, school districts have adopted so-called “restorative justice” and “equitable discipline” frameworks that favor identity-based outcomes over student behavior. These aren’t harmless feel-good reforms. They are policies that silence teachers, embolden disruptors, and endanger students.
In 2014, the Obama administration redefined discipline enforcement using a “disparate impact” lens —judging school policies not by intent, but by statistical outcome. Schools that suspended more students of one race than another could face civil rights investigations, even when behavior warranted discipline.
This misguided approach had a chilling effect nationwide. As the Heritage Foundation warned, it prioritized optics over safety. Teachers and principals stopped removing disruptive students, fearing legal and political repercussions.
Fueled by the Obama-era “Dear Colleague” letter, schools now fear civil rights investigations for suspending students if the outcome statistics don’t align with DEI standards. As a result, educators are powerless. When teachers do speak up, they’re ignored — just ask the staff at the New York City school where inaction led to a fatal stabbing, or over half of the teachers in Broward County who felt unsafe in their own classrooms.
DEI in discipline is not about justice. It’s about fear, quotas, and ideology. It’s time for school boards and lawmakers to step up, eliminate these mandates, and return discipline to the adults in the room.
Yet teachers are being told to respond not with consequences, but with conversation. Restorative justice frameworks, which favor “relationship repair” over discipline, have become the norm, encouraged by federal guidance and DEI mandates. The consequences are dire.
The tragic consequences were most visible in Parkland, Florida. The PROMISE program, designed to keep students out of the justice system, enabled a known violent student to avoid accountability. That student later committed the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. A 2018 Federal Commission on School Safety report described the chilling effects of these federal guidelines and recommended their reversal.
The real-world effect is seen across the country. A 2024 investigation by The 74 found that at NYC’s Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, months of unchecked violence culminated in the stabbing death of a student. Teachers had warned administrators repeatedly, but “restorative” policies kept them from acting.
Despite this, the Biden administration’s 2023 guidance revived and reinforced non-exclusionary discipline frameworks, promoting equity over safety once again.
Meanwhile, families are losing confidence in the system. A national parent survey by 50CAN revealed growing distrust and a preference for direct teacher input, because parents know the numbers aren’t telling the truth anymore.
What needs to change
- End DEI-based “disparate impact” mandates that undermine fair enforcement of school discipline.
- Replace restorative justice with clear, consistent consequences.
- Restore teacher authority and protect their ability to manage classrooms without fear.
- Protect the right of every student to learn in a safe, orderly environment.
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We ask teachers to do everything, but deny them the basic authority to keep their classrooms under control. Until that changes, we’ll continue to lose good educators, fail millions of students, and betray the promise of public education.
It’s time to stop the ideological experiments. Let teachers teach again.
Ryan Petty is a school safety advocate, Vice Chair of the Florida State Board of Education, and policy leader dedicated to preventing violence in schools. After the tragic loss of his daughter, Alaina, in the Parkland school shooting, he has worked with lawmakers, educators, and law enforcement to improve school security nationwide.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
