Fiscal, Demographic, and Performance Data on California’s K-12 Schools

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Definitions of offence categories used for suspensions and expulsions

Definitions and explanations about the different reasons a student may be suspended or expelled in California.

Accountability

These definitions and explanations are from the California Department of Education's Suspensions and Expulsions glossary.  More information can be found in the suspensions and expulsions reports on DataQuest at https://dq.cde.ca.gov

Federal Offense Categories, Defiance Only, and "Other"

In order to report summaries of student-level disciplinary outcomes (suspensions and expulsions), the CDE has mapped each of the 33 California Education Code sections reported in CALPADS to their corresponding Federal Offense categories and the following suggested Federal severity hierarchy:

  • Violent Incident (Injury)
  • Violent Incident (No Injury)
  • Weapons Possession (No Injury)
  • Illicit Drug Related (Includes Alcohol)
  • Defiance Only (Not Part of the Federal Hierarchy)
  • Other (Not Part of the Federal Hierarchy)

IMPORTANT NOTE: For DataQuest reporting, all suspensions and expulsions are counted under the Federal Offense Category associated with the most severe offense committed by a student in an incident, unless the most severe offense committed belongs to the “Defiance Only” or “Other” non-federal categories.

Violent Incident (Injury)

This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48915(c)(4), 48900(n) Sexual Battery/Assault
48915(a)(1) Caused Physical Injury
48915(a)(5) Committed Assault or Battery on a School Employee
48900(a)(2) Used Force or Violence
48900.3 Committed an act of Hate Violence
48900(q) Hazing
Violent Incident (No Injury)

This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48900.2 Sexual Harassment
48900(a)(1) Caused, Attempted, or Threatened Physical Injury
48900(t) Aided or Abetted Physical Injury
48900.4 Harassment or Intimidation
48900(o) Harassment, Intimidation of a Witness
48900.7 Made Terrorist Threats
48900(i) Obscene Acts, Profanity, and Vulgarity
48900(r) Bullying
Weapons Possession

This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48915(c)(1) Possession, Sale, Furnishing a Firearm
48900(b) Possession, Sale, Furnishing a Firearm or Knife
48915(c)(2) Brandishing a Knife
48915(a)(2) Possession of a Knife or Dangerous Object
48915(c)(5) Possession of an Explosive
Illicit Drug Related (Includes Alcohol)

This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48915(c)(3) Sale of Controlled Substance
48915(a)(3) Possession of Controlled Substance
48900(c) Possession, Use, Sale, or Furnishing a Controlled Substance, Alcohol, Intoxicant
48900(d) Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of Controlled Substances, Alcohol, Intoxicants
48900(j) Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of Drug Paraphernalia
48900(p) Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of the prescription drug Soma
“Defiance Only” for Suspension/Expulsion

Any suspension or expulsion associated with a student in which the only offense committed by a student is disruption is considered a “Defiance Only” incident.

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48900(k)1 Disruption, Defiance1
“Other” Reason for Suspension/Expulsion

This category includes the following California Education Code sections, most of which are NOT included in any of the Federal Offense Categories. The only offense that is reportable in the Federal category of “Other” is EC 48900(m)—Possession of an Imitation Firearm:

California Education Code Section Offense Description
48900(m) Possession of an Imitation Firearm
48900(h)2 Possession or Use of Tobacco Products2
48900(f) Property Damage
48915(a)(4) Robbery or Extortion
48900(g) Property Theft
48900(l) Received Stolen Property

 

1See Section “Federal Offense Categories (And ‘Other’)” for more information. 
2Tobacco related offenses are listed under the “Other” offense category for DataQuest reporting purposes, however, these same offense are reported under the “Illicit Drug” offense category to the Federal US Department of Education.