Tennessee Comptroller to investigate corporal punishment of students with disabilities

The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury will investigate the use of corporal punishment among students with disabilities.

Two state senators sent a letter earlier this week to Comptroller Justin Wilson requesting an investigation, said comptroller spokesman John Dunn.

“It has come to our attention that there is a disparity in the numbers of children with disabilities and children without disabilities with regards to disciplinary action including corporal punishment in Tennessee schools,” Sen. Dolores Gresham and Sen. Rusty Crowe wrote in the letter.

The senators — Gresham is chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee and Crowe is chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee — want the Office of Research and Education Accountability to determine the extent of the disparity in corporal punishment between students with disabilities and their peers.

They also want to learn what might be causing the disparity and how to address it, Gresham said in a statement.

Crowe said he saw a WJHL News Channel 11 report on the disparity in discipline and corporal punishment between students with disabilities and their peers.

Tennessee is one of 22 states where corporal punishment is allowed, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection.

Several school districts in Middle Tennessee ban corporal punishment: Metro Nashville Public Schools, Williamson County Schools, Franklin Special School District, Murfreesboro City Schools and Wilson County Schools.

Public school districts decide whether or not to use corporal punishment.

Any teacher or school principal may use corporal punishment in a reasonable manner against any student to maintain discipline and order, according to state law.