How economic security helps kids get to school and slows the school-to-prison pipeline

In Ohio’s schools, kids learn to read, write, play an instrument, or dance. They learn history and the skills they need to thrive beyond the classroom. But too many Ohio kids miss too much school, limiting their options for the future.

Kids are absent for a variety of social, emotional, and physical reasons. Mental health factors such as depression, anxiety, and chronic stress reduce kids’ desire to attend school.[1] Trauma and violence exacerbate those issues, increasing the likelihood that a student will become chronically absent, defined in Ohio as missing 10% of the school year for any reason, excused or unexcused.

The same factors also contribute to student behaviors that, combined with too few teacher supports and ineffective institutional practices, result in high rates of exclusionary discipline — such as suspensions and expulsions — which also increase absenteeism.

These markers of student disconnection feed a negative cycle that pushes far too many young people into the juvenile justice system, creating an entry point in the school-to-prison pipeline.[2]

In this report, we look at trends in the available absentee, exclusionary discipline, and juvenile justice data, all markers of student disconnection and distress, to better understand who is at greatest risk and where the state should target funding and programming.

The data clearly show that Black students and students who are from economically disadvantaged families are far more likely than their counterparts to end up in the juvenile justice system. These are the unsurprising consequences of locking communities out of broad public investments through segregation, red-lining, and the legacy of chronic inequitable school funding.

The data in this report serves as the proverbial canary in the coal mine, warning that basic mental, physical, and social needs, critical to a young person’s healthy development, are going unmet. The state’s economic indicators are meaningless in the face of large-scale abandonment of Ohio’s young people; the recommendations included in this report, if implemented, will put kids first.

Chronic absenteeism in Ohio

Ohio law identifies three categories of absenteeism, the most significant of which is chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% of the school year for any reason, excused or unexcused.[3]

Ohio’s chronic absenteeism rate was high before COVID and reached crisis levels during the pandemic. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) found that during the 2020-21 school year, chronic absenteeism grew by 9% on average for districts that were fully remote.[4] As we have moved away from the pandemic-related closures, absenteeism slightly improved, but remains unacceptably high. More than 418,000 students (26.8%) were chronically absent in the 2022-23 year.

Figure 1

While many absences are due to illness or other health issues, attendance also suffers when families are economically insecure. When families do not have access to reliable transportation, when parents work uncertain or late schedules for little pay, when housing is unaffordable and health care is out of reach,[5] families have a harder time getting kids to school, risking preventable chronic absenteeism.

The economic status of families and communities is particularly relevant because Ohio relies heavily on property taxes to fund our schools. In short, the prior school funding scheme kept poor kids in poor schools.

Ohio’s new, partially implemented Fair School Funding Plan will be a more equitable distribution of state funding for schools, once it is fully enacted and sufficiently funded. But the data show that historically underserved students will require more to address specific needs arising from disinvestment in their communities.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) defines three groups of “historically underserved students,” each of which has had higher than normal rates of chronic absenteeism since before the pandemic.[6] Figure 2 illustrates these rates for Economically Disadvantaged students,[7] students with disabilities,[8] and English language learners.[9]

Figure 2

Given the connections between attendance, economic security, and school resources, it’s not surprising to find increased absenteeism among Black and brown Ohioans: groups who were legally locked out of opportunity for greater economic security by segregation and redlining.[10] Policies that enshrined segregation continue to impact school funding and harm students.[11]

Figure 3

What should not be lost in the absentee data is that economic security insulates students of all identity subgroups against absenteeism. The majority of chronically absent students were also economically disadvantaged across all groups, except Asian Pacific Islander students, where the categories were nearly equal. For example, of all the chronically absent Black students, only 2.8% were not also economically disadvantaged.[12] No group had more than 8.8% of students who were both economically secure and chronically absent.

Collectively, these data illustrate that chronic absenteeism disproportionately affects students who already face too many barriers to academic and career success. Administrators and policymakers should be doing all they can to keep kids in the classroom. When they do the opposite — with suspension or expulsion — they feed the school-to-prison pipeline.

Exclusionary discipline disconnects students

School attendance has been linked to student performance: The less time a student spends in the classroom, the worse the outcome. Chronically absent students receive less instruction time, get lower grades and lower scores on proficiency exams, and are more likely than their peers to drop out of school.[13] Students who drop out are less likely to ever finish high school, attend college, or earn a sustainable living wage; they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as smoking and alcohol or drug abuse.[14]

For kids to get the benefits of an education, they need to attend school consistently throughout childhood and adolescence. But too often, administrators choose (or are required) to discipline students by excluding them from the classroom. Expulsion and suspension (in-school or out-) are often counterproductive, leaving excluded students further behind their peers, and more likely to leave school altogether.

Disengagement from school is among the strongest factors connected to absenteeism[15] and juvenile delinquency.[16] Among similar kids who commit similar offenses but receive different discipline, those who are suspended are more likely to get suspended again, to drop out, and to get arrested.[17] Like chronic absenteeism, behavioral issues at school are symptoms of greater public ills: community disinvestment, family economic insecurity, barriers to meeting basic needs from hunger to health care, and racial bias in the application of discipline.

Ohio has made efforts to reform its practices after falling under national scrutiny for discriminatory application of discipline policies. In 2014, the federal departments of Education and Justice warned the states that disproportionate discipline risks federal civil rights actions. This led to Ohio’s 5th largest district, Toledo Public Schools, entering a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice in 2020, to drastically reform its disciplinary practices. The district made insufficient progress, and the settlement was extended through 2025.[18]

For years, Ohio’s zero-tolerance policies drove discriminatory discipline practices and raised exclusionary discipline rates even for very young children, while failing to improve school outcomes and safety. In 2018, Ohio enacted the “Supporting Alternatives for Fair Education (SAFE) Act” to reform school discipline rules. It requires districts to use Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS): a tiered, whole-school approach designed to restore and strengthen connections to school and improve outcomes for all kids.[19] For pre-K through 3rd grade, the SAFE Act prohibits expulsions and suspensions, except in cases where conduct threatens the safety of other students, teachers, or personnel.[20]

From 4th grade on, a broader range of behaviors may trigger exclusionary practices, of which Ohio defines six types.[21] The most immediate is “Emergency Removal by District Personnel,” an action taken more than 23,000 times in 2022-23.[22] Expulsion (permanent removal from a school) was less common, while limited-time suspensions — in- or out-of-school — accounted for more than 80% of exclusions that year.

Figure 4 illustrates these practices as shares of the total statewide number of exclusionary discipline actions in the 2022-23 school year, excluding actions taken by private schools, for which data are not available.

Figure 4

Despite the increased scrutiny, potential consequences, and state-level policy reforms, exclusionary discipline is still too common, and disproportionately distributed. Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio found significant racial disparities in 2022-23 discipline data. That year, Black male students were 4.3 times more likely than white male students to be suspended or expelled, and Black female students were 6 times more likely than white female students.[23] The same study also found economic disparities: Of all the students expelled during the 2022-23 school year, 81% qualified as economically disadvantaged.[24]

Restorative justice approaches,[25] including PBIS, are more effective than exclusion at supporting student achievement.[26] By focusing on evidence-based support for behavioral, social, emotional, and mental health of students, Ohio’s SAFE Act represents a sea-change for discipline.[27] The PBIS model, if expanded and accompanied by funding to hire staff, implement programming, and establish needed health services at school, would be a sure step in securing more kids’ futures and closing the school-to-prison pipeline.

Students and the juvenile justice system

Young people who encounter the juvenile justice system face challenges that follow them throughout their lives. They have more difficulty accessing education, economic security, healthcare, and other opportunities to live healthier and happier lives. For example, young people who have been adjudicated, or found guilty, in the juvenile court system had a graduation rate of just 23.2% in 2022.[28]

In Ohio, incarcerated[29] youth are typically held by the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS), which oversees three juvenile correctional facilities, three alternative placement facilities, parole services, and the Buckeye United School District (BUSD) for justice-involved youth. In FY23, the average daily population across all DYS facilities was 497, a 15% increase from FY22. Among them, 92% were male.[30]

Ohio has made strides in reducing the number of youths involved in the juvenile justice system, but disparities still exist: Black youth in Ohio are more likely to come in contact with the juvenile justice system than their peers of other races.[31]

Most of the youth (60%) in DYS come from Ohio’s largest counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lorain, and Montgomery. The racial disparities within these county admissions are also evident in the data. In Cuyahoga County, Black youth make up 42% of the total population, but 90% of the institutional population. In 2019, 90% of the institutionalized population in Cuyahoga County were Black compared to 8% being white. Black youth are close to 12 times more likely to be institutionalized compared to white youth.[32] In Hamilton County, close to 3,000 youth are referred to the Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the majority of whom are youth of color.[33]

Educating incarcerated youth

Involvement in the juvenile justice system can do serious harm to a young person’s education, with lasting impacts on their future.[34] Providing education to incarcerated youth can reduce the harm. Legislators should prioritize funding for quality education in juvenile facilities so that young people held by the state can successfully transition back into their classrooms and communities, develop skills necessary for employment opportunities, and improve their later life outcomes.

Buckeye United School District (BUSD) is an independent school district chartered by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW) and operated by DYS. State funding for BUSD comes through line item DPF Fund 1750 ALI 470613 Education Services,[35] through basic aid and special education program payments transferred from ODEW. In FY23 ODEW provided $2,468,439 for these services. State lawmakers allocated a little over $7.6 million for FY2024-25, a projected 56% increase in funding over the biennium.[36]

BUSD provides education to justice-involved youth in grades 6-12, serving 415 students in FY22 and issuing 35 diplomas and 34 GEDs in the same year. The program also provides students with professional training such as CPR, forklift certifications, and other skills they can use into adulthood.[37]

The state budget also supports RECLAIM Ohio,[38] a program that funds services and programs run by local juvenile courts to divert youth from DYS facilities. (Funding comes through GRF ALI 470401). Programs include mental health services, social services, recovery services, and nutrition services. Lawmakers appropriated $391 million for RECLAIM for FY2024-25, an 11.4% increase from the last budget.[39] In the next budget, lawmakers should continue to invest in RECLAIM funding so that youth can have the physical, social, and emotional support they need to lead happier and healthier lives.

Disconnection from school leads to poor educational outcomes. Ineffective tools to prevent disconnection can do more harm than good. Exclusionary discipline increases a student’s likelihood of entering the juvenile system, where the educational impacts only become worse. To interrupt this cycle, legislators should evaluate, and expand programs already at work, and use the next state budget to fund improvements.

Recommendations

Refine, expand, and fund truancy and attendance policy and programing. In 2023, the Ohio Attendance Taskforce[40] developed recommendations for improving attendance in Ohio’s schools. Observing that “schools can’t do this alone,” the taskforce recommended expanding the “Stay in the Game!” network and messaging program[41] to “create a statewide attendance movement;” so students and families can participate in school and district-level conversations about attendance policies; make school environments more engaging and responsive; support teachers and administrators with an Attendance Toolkit and Data Guide; and refine existing law to increase districts’ flexibility. The recommendations are worth real consideration from the legislature, ODEW, and districts.

Notably absent were recommendations to improve economic security of kids and their families, even though economically secure kids — across population subgroups — showed much lower rates of chronic absenteeism. Too many Ohio families live and work in precarious economic situations. The state can and should do far more to stabilize families.

Improve employment practices that contribute to unpredictable and unmanageable work schedules by passing reasonable scheduling reforms. Other states have enacted predictable scheduling penalties, right-to-rest rules, and mandatory “on-call” pay.[42] Parents cannot do the job of parenting when they cannot manage their work schedule. The state should take this driver of student disconnection out of the game through scheduling reforms.

Pass refundable tax credits designed to increase the annual income of economically disadvantaged families. Research shows a modest increase in annual income through refundable tax credits is correlated to meaningful increases in math and reading scores and to the future academic achievement of young children.[43]

Policies that increase income — including those that increase the minimum wage —offset some of the historic and continued impacts of segregation, redlining, and discrimination. SB 256 proposes to do just that: Make the existing state Earned Income Tax Credit refundable and gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

In 2021, the expanded federal Child Tax Credit dramatically reduced childhood poverty and improved the lives of millions of children and families. Congress let down those same people by allowing it to expire. The Ohio legislature should support efforts to renew this tax code change through a legislative resolution. The state should further the impact of the policy by enacting a state-level Child Tax Credit.[44]

Support Attendance Taskforce recommendations by including dedicated funding for attendance support staff, programing, and student support. Schools and districts have no dedicated funding for attendance improvement programing. The state provides guidance on using portions of existing federal funds and a limited share of the state’s wellness funds to pay for planning and implementation.[45] Half-measures have not reduced absences; without additional directed funding, the state is requiring schools and overtaxed educators to take on more with less. Amendments that included funding for these programs were tabled when the final state budget bill, H.B. 33,[46] was passed through the legislature. Those should be revived and included in the next budget cycle.

In February 2023, Ohio’s Comprehensive School Safety Framework released a detailed guide on school safety protocols that focuses on the well-being of the child. Encompassing the whole child strategy and highlighting best practices to provide a positive school climate for our kids.[47]

Schools and districts should adopt Ohio’s Comprehensive School Safety Framework to create safe, supportive school environments for all students, especially the most marginalized, such as students with disabilities, students of color, LGBTQIA+ students, and economically disadvantaged students.

Expand and fund the SAFE Act. The SAFE Act established a pathway toward more effective classroom and behavioral management practices. However, the legislature provided no additional funding to support schools and educators in making the transition. The PBIS model takes staff time and money to implement broadly and correctly. Real change also requires accountability and consequences for schools and districts who don’t live up to their end of the deal. Ohio should expand the SAFE Act to all grades, embedding restorative practices into the PIBS framework. The expansion should come with funding to support implementation and ensure educators have the carved-out time and training needed to adopt new strategies.

Fund “health first” initiatives. Care-first options consistently produced data that demonstrates overall behavioral and educational improvements. Many of these strategies have also proven to be cost-effective and beneficial to the communities served.[48]

Expand Ohio’s Medicaid School Program and school-based health care. The Medicaid School Program reimburses school districts for some IEP-related therapy services provided to Medicaid-eligible students. The Ohio Department of Medicaid should file an amended state plan with the federal agency so all Medicaid-eligible services can be covered. School-based health care connects all kids, regardless of insurance type or IEP status, with external health care partners to improve health outcomes.[49]

Eliminate childhood hunger by funding free school meals for all students. Hunger and stigma have no place at school. Ohio could ensure that all kids have access to food by passing legislation to fund and expand free school meal programs.

Fully fund the Fair School Funding Plan and increase funding for support staff hiring. Underfunded schools lack the resources and services students need to feel supported and engaged. A lack of quality textbooks, inexperienced educators, and bare-bones support services drive delinquency and dropout rates.[50] In the next budget, lawmakers should continue to increase funding for the Fair School Funding Plan, permanently include the funding formula in our state constitution, and build out funding so schools can hire support staff such as behavioral specialists, ESL teachers, social workers, and counselors to practice restorative approaches to behavior management and provide relief and support to overburdened educators.

Ohio is among the worst states for equitable distribution of school funding.[51] Instead of spending billions of public dollars to subsidize private school tuition,[52] funding should instead be used for mental health and behavioral support staff and services, increased funding for programming and support to improve student attendance to keep kids in school and out of prison.

Support more schools in becoming community learning centers (aka full-service schools). By supporting partnerships between schools and a range of local stakeholders, state leaders can help bring innovative, holistic, and effective solutions to some of the most complicated issues in education. Community learning centers collaborate to set goals meaningful to the students, parents, educators, and neighbors. There are about 5,000 community learning centers across the nation, with demonstrated improvements in attendance, family stability, enrollment, and academic improvement.[53] Cincinnati Community Learning Centers are featured in the documentary “On the Rise” and are examples of what is possible when schools have the funding and support to become the heart of their community.[54]

Financing the community learning model requires combined funding from federal, local, state, and private sources.[55] The state could help more schools make this transition by providing dedicated funding to those schools and communities most ready for transformation.

Conclusion

School is a place where kids can flourish, where they find themselves and their people, and where their futures start to unfold. But kids’ unmet social, emotional, and physical needs may manifest as behavioral issues and absences. To meet those needs, schools need funding. Kids need more school counselors and nurses, more mental and behavioral health services, and a more holistic approach to education. They also need teachers whose classes are small enough to give each student the attention they deserve, and who have the time and resources to create classrooms where everyone can feel safe, supported, and connected.

Tags

Justice ReformK-12 EducationTanisha Pruitt