Texas districts referred 47,000 children aged 10-13, analysis says
Between 2014 and 2025, Texas school districts referred children ages 10 to 13 for prosecution more than 47,000 times following campus incidents, with about 4,800 students in that age group referred during the 2024-25 academic year alone, according to an analysis by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News.
Rising Referrals for Minor Offenses
The state’s multi-billion-dollar investment in school policing has transformed discipline over the past decade, subjecting thousands of students to physical force over minor misconduct like making threats, using cannabis vapes, or lashing out at classmates and teachers. Few of the children referred caused serious physical harm. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department data shows that referrals for 10- to 13-year-olds grew by a third compared to a decade prior, outpacing the growth of the student population and outpacing the referral growth of older students.
In El Paso, a 10-year-old kicked an assistant principal after his cellphone was taken away, leading to a justice system referral that brought thousands of dollars in legal bills for his family, according to court records cited by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News. In Victoria, a 10-year-old admitted he made up a story about seeing someone on campus with a weapon. In another instance near Austin, an 11-year-old bumped into a school counselor and also faced the justice system.
Arrests and Legal Fallout in Middle Schools
State law dictates that school officers stay out of routine student discipline, but the statute does not define the term or outline repercussions for violations. Phillip Lyons, the dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and a former police detective who handled juvenile cases, noted that officers stationed in schools will default to arrests if there are no active threats. William Shaw, a juvenile judge in San Antonio, stated that many cases coming before him involving pushing or fighting among children could have been handled directly by a school principal.
In Galveston during August 2024, a 12-year-old girl at Central Middle School was disruptive, suspended, and told to wait in the lobby, according to records reviewed by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News. When she refused to go, school police officer Vincent Ramirez placed her in handcuffs and drove her to a school police headquarters. Body camera footage showed officers twisting her arm behind her back when she would not place her hand on a fingerprint machine, and school district police chief Josette Rivas recording her on a cellphone. Matthew Neighbors, the Galveston school district superintendent, wrote in an email that the officers remained calm and respectful.
Legislative Pushback Ahead
While large districts like Houston and Dallas decreased their referral numbers, roughly 60 districts drove the statewide increase. Officials in some districts cited campus safety priorities following the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Representative Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat who cosponsored the 2023 state law requiring an officer at every public school, stated that the increase in young children’s referrals was alarming and that he plans to push for stricter limits on school policing when the state legislature convenes in January.