Giving Compass' Take:

· After recent school shootings, many leaders in education have questioned the effectiveness of the Obama-era school discipline policies. Jonathan Butcher at The Heritage Foundation discusses school discipline policy and explains why it should be handled at a local level.

· How can districts enforce an equal balance with the way they discipline students? How should schools handle their most problematic students?

· Read more on reforming Obama’s school discipline policies.

Teacher unions and progressive special interest groups cried foul earlier this year when the White House suggested that federal directives on school safety could be rescinded.

But if a recent hearing held by the Federal Commission on School Safety is any indication, state and local policymakers don’t need Washington to micromanage student discipline policies. These state and community leaders’ testimonies indicate they are acting on their own to try and make students and schools safer.

In 2014, the Obama administration’s Departments of Education and Justice issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to public schools that contained specific instructions on how schools should deal with school safety and student discipline. The letter says schools should limit student engagement with law enforcement and says suspensions and expulsions (exclusionary discipline) should only be used as a last resort.

The agencies also said school personnel should sign a memorandum of agreement with local law enforcement indicating that all involved will try to limit exclusionary discipline.

Read the full article about school discipline policy by Jonathan Butcher at The Heritage Foundation.