AUSTIN, Texas — Students from several large urban school districts are receiving a growing number of tickets for infractions due to an increased number of campus police officers. These Class C misdemeanors would normally be handled by school officials and not result in a ticket.
According to report released by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit advocacy group, students as young as 6-years-old have received tickets at school over the past five years, the Dallas Morning News reports. In a recent school year, 62 percent of those tickets were issued to black students even though they only make up 30 percent of the student population.
The organization suggested that ticketing should only be used as a last resort and that students under the age of 14 should not receive tickets. It was also suggested that class disruption and misbehavior on school buses should not be punishable by ticketing.
