Louisiana Bill To Remove Paddling in Public Schools Doesn’t Pass

A bill presented to the Louisiana house was set to remove paddling and forms of corporal punishment in public schools across Louisiana. In order to pass, the bill needed a total of 53 votes. However, after the voting was complete, the results fell a touch short with only 48 lawmakers being in support of removing corporal punishment within Louisiana's public schools.

Paddling and other forms of punishment in Louisiana are currently at the discretion of local school districts. The districts are allowed to discipline as they see fit, but they're still under specific rules and guidelines when corporal punishment is used. Those for keeping the currently policy in place spoke about how banning such punishment in public schools could begin to trickle down to the parents of the children also not being allowed to do the same at home as they see fit.

According to the Louisiana School Discipline Laws and Regulations (updated as of January 2020), corporal punishment in Louisiana is described by using physical force in order to discipline a student. Using an object to administer said punishment is optional. The punishment involves any physical force to cause discomfort or pain. It also allows the use of physical force to restrain a student if they were to possess a weapon or object that could cause bodily harm.

The most recent information I could find on the policy for corporal punishment was in 2017, when there was another push to get rid of the punishment in Louisiana. According to an article from KPLC in 2017, the policy is not necessarily prohibited in Calcasieu Parish, but there have been policies in set in place to prevent it from happening unless absolutely necessary.