The report noted that black students are disproportionately dealt the harshest exclusionary penalties — expulsions and out - of - school suspensions.1 In 2014, the California state legislature passed a state law (AB420)
prohibiting public schools from expelling any student or suspending students in third grade or earlier grades for the offense of «
willful defiance» — a catchall category of offenses (including disruption) ranging from shouting obscenities at a teacher to forgetting to bring a pencil to class.