If Coloradans never heard another mention of the so-called “school-to-prison pipeline,” it would be too soon. Yet, it’s a safe bet they’ll hear the politically scripted meme time and again as the soft-on-crime crowd continues to peddle its disingenuous “justice reform” agenda on behalf of kids.

At least, we’ll get a break from the hollow catchphrase around the halls of the state Capitol now that the 2023 Legislature has drawn to a close, as required by the state constitution. It’s a welcome if temporary reprieve. Almost until the last gavel, advocates of purported juvenile justice reform had been tossing around those magic words with wild abandon.

Though they wound up losing some legislative battles as the swing voters in the General Assembly peeled off for fear of a public backlash, the crusaders bent on reinventing juvenile justice for perpetrators – their many juvenile victims be damned – assuredly will carry on.

That was evident in the final days of this year’s legislative session as advocates of a misguided and ultimately unsuccessful bill to curb student expulsions pounded the podium.

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“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.” 

No, in fact, her bill was fundamentally unfair to students and families. It 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. If a 17-year-old is booked for beating someone unconscious; is busted for selling opioids, or is charged in an armed carjacking – he could still show up to school the next day as soon as he posts bail.

While Gonzales-Gutierrez frets over what an expulsion might do to a perpetrator’s ability to graduate, all the other students at the same school, as a result, might have to worry about safely making it through the school day.

It’s worth pointing out the student who opened fire and seriously wounded two school administrators at Denver’s East High School in March already was on probation for a weapons charge at the time. It was no doubt the school district’s avowed policy of keeping the shooter out of the school-to-prison pipeline that kept him going to class – to the peril of others.

In the end, enough of Gonzales-Gutierrez’s fellow lawmakers seemed to get that, and she couldn’t round up the votes to pass her bill even in a Legislature already lax on law enforcement.

Lawmakers also came to their senses and ended up gutting an even more troubling measure. It would have raised the age for charging kids with all but the most heinous crimes – even in the juvenile justice system. The new minimum age would have been 13. Kids younger than that – who on occasion, sadly, do commit crimes that include even sexual assault and armed violence – would have faced no legal consequences at all. No time in a juvenile justice diversion program, where they could get help.

That bill, too, would have taken more kids out of the supposed school-to-prison pipeline – because even school districts likely wouldn’t know of the kids’ potentially criminal acts in the first place. Nor would the schools know what threat those kids posed to their peers.

The school-to-prison pipeline is an illusion, a straw man conjured up by those who blindly push the justice reform dogma. It serves ultimately to keep students in school even when they pose a clear and present danger to others.

Schools are supposed to provide kids a pipeline of opportunity – by providing a learning environment that not only is enriching but also safe.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board