Schools would bar corporal punishment for enrolled pupils

School officials, employees, and agents would not be allowed to subject an enrolled pupil to corporal punishment. The rule would cover public schools, including charter schools, and private schools. Corporal punishment means intentionally causing physical pain as a form of discipline. Examples include paddling, slapping, and keeping a pupil in a physically painful position. Actions required by an individualized education program and reasonable physical activity connected to athletic training would not count as corporal punishment. If enacted, the rule would take effect on the first July 1 after publication.

Each school’s governing body would adopt a policy allowing reasonable and necessary force for the listed statutory purposes. The policy would apply to officials, employees, and agents of public, charter, and private schools. The policy concerns the exceptions listed in the statute, but those exceptions are not included in the supplied passages. Reasonable, good-faith judgments about using an exception would receive deference. The section would not itself create a separate basis for damages claims involving improper or unnecessary force. The provision would not affect actions involving a person who is not an enrolled pupil. If enacted, these provisions would take effect on the first July 1 after publication.