Alejandra Rodriguez, 9, of Key Largo, Fla., watches as college students protest in support of the Department of Education outside the department in Washington in March, 2025.

As the flurry of presidential executive orders continues, a recent one regarding school discipline has some claiming corporal punishment is making a comeback.

Not so fast.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an order to promote stricter school discipline and discourage schools from taking into account that discipline policies may impact students of color. The order's message is to bring back "common sense" in discipline policies, not corporal punishment.

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On the surface, the order seems vague, but it implies that classrooms have been made less safe by practices to address systemic issues of disciplining students of color more aggressively than others. It also suggests that schools are violating the civil rights of white students by failing to hand out discipline evenly.

SEWING: Houston ISD labeled my children as autistic. Neither of them are, and parents can push back.

If school districts are found to use such practices, their federal funding could be at risk.

Still, the order fails to address the reality that racial disparities in school discipline have long been documented, with Black........

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