A bill seeking to prevent students from being expelled for committing crimes outside of school was shut down by lawmakers last week. 

House Bill 1109 would have made several changes to the due process and legal thresholds for expelling, suspending or denying admission of public school students. Most notably, the bill would have limited a school district’s ability to expel, suspend or deny admission to a student due to criminal activity outside of school that doesn’t involve other students. 

The House Education Committee unanimously voted to kill the bill on Thursday upon request from the bill’s sponsors, suggesting the bill did not have enough support to pass out of the panel. 

“House Bill 1109 is a bill to keep students in school, and out of the school-to-prison pipeline,” said bill sponsor Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-Denver. “This is about fairness for all students and families.” 

Multiple studies have found that being expelled or suspended makes students less likely to graduate and pursue higher education, and more likely to be arrested as juveniles and adults. Gonzales-Gutierrez said the bill was intended to deter school districts from expelling students for low-level, nonviolent issues unrelated to other students or school staff. 

If passed, the bill would have prohibited delinquent or criminal behavior committed outside of school from being automatic grounds for a student’s expulsion, suspension or denial of admission. To pursue discipline for such behavior, a school district must demonstrate that the student’s actions pose an “imminent threat” to other students or staff by establishing “a direct and substantial nexus” between the behavior and risk of harm. 

Opponents of the bill said these requirements were too vague and difficult to prove, arguing they would result in dangerous students remaining in schools. 

Sonja McKenzie, a lawyer representing the Cherry Creek School District, said that, earlier this school year, one of their students shot a student from a different school district at a local park. Because the victim was not a Cherry Creek student and the shooting happened off campus, McKenzie argued that the incident wouldn’t qualify as putting their students and staff at risk. 

“We would be left with no ability to discipline that student,” McKenzie said while testifying against the bill in committee. “You tell me. Would you want your child attending that school with that child?”

Wendy Birhanzel, superintendent of Harrison School District, said she expelled a student who crashed a stolen car and was found with guns and drugs. One month into his expulsion, Birhanzel said the student fired a gun at multiple students in a grocery store parking lot. Birhanzel said the district would have struggled to expel the student for the first incident, likely needing to hire legal experts for assistance, which most districts can’t afford. 

“If we, as districts, cannot expel students due to someone else’s determination of a lack of imminent danger or substantial nexus, and the student comes into one of our campuses and injures another student, which one of you wants to call home and tell mom their son’s not coming back?” Birhanzel said. 

During the committee hearing, seven people testified against the bill, including representatives from the Colorado Association of School Executives, Charter Advocacy Coalition, Colorado Association of School Boards and various school districts.

Three dozen people testified in support of the measure, many of whom were students who have experienced expulsion or suspension themselves. 

J.J. Reed said, when he was in the seventh grade, he got into a fight and got a ticket from police. Though the fight was off campus, Reed said his school found out and suspended him for three days. Years later, his little sister was expelled from the same school for the same reason, he said. 

“We have a lot to offer. We are all greater than our worst mistakes,” said Reed, who is now student body president of the AUL Denver high school. “When we expel students, we create a cycle of trauma that just keeps going.” 

Proponents of the bill said expelling students for this kind of behavior unfairly presumes guilt before they’re able to go to court and have their due process. 

These discipline actions also disproportionately affect students of color. In the 2017-18 school year, Black students were 4.6% of Colorado’s school populations but made up 9.5% and 9.8% of students suspended and expelled, according to data from the Civil Rights Data Collection. Hispanic, Latino and mixed-race students were also similarly overrepresented in disciplinary rates. 

Luis Loya-Perez, also an AUL Denver student, said when he was young, he struggled with his family and turned to the streets looking for a community. He ended up falling in with a bad crowd and getting involved in drugs and guns, he said. Eventually, Loya-Perez was arrested and spent a year in juvenile detention. On top of his legal consequences, he was expelled from his school. 

Loya-Perez said he feels lucky to have gotten a second chance at education at AUL Denver, saying he is now hopeful for his future, dreaming of traveling the world and buying a home for his family. 

“I’ve been given a second chance and a fresh start. … My future is mine again,” Loya-Perez said during his testimony. “No one is a bad kid, and, if more schools operated with this belief, our communities could become truly successful for all.” 

The bill would have also required expulsion hearing officers to participate in an annual training; required school districts to provide evidence for expulsion hearings to the student or their guardian at least five days before the hearing; and, allowed the student or their guardian to cross-examine adverse witnesses who testify during expulsion hearings.

Gonzales-Gutierrez said she and co-sponsor Rep. Junie Joseph, D-Boulder, will continue to work on the bill.

“We are continuing to do that work that will come out in a different way,” Gonzales-Gutierrez said.