Student Fair Access to School Amendment Act of 2018
In the summer of 2018, the District of Columbia enacted uniform school discipline reforms applying to both DC Public School (DCPS) and public charter schools—the Student Fair Access to School Amendment Act of 2018 (Law 22-057). This new law helps ensure children with disabilities, children of color, and children in the foster care system will no longer be marginalized by being regularly sent home from school instead of receiving the educational supports they need to stay in the classroom and continue learning. Children’s Law Center, along with members of the Every Student Every Day Coalition, helped shape the legislation, which also drew from the experience of parents, teachers, lawyers and experts in the field to determine how to best keep students in school and learning.Below, you can download a summary of the legislation, a chart containing the effective dates for each provision, and a factsheet containing the District’s annual discipline reporting requirements.**Note: Some of the resources below were updated in July 2019 to reflect funded provisions and changes made to the law by the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Support Act of 2019.