An NPR analysis published on August 19 found that 15 U.S. states still have laws permitting public school employees to use corporal punishment on students, and that nearly 32,000 reported instances of paddling, hitting, or other forms of physical discipline were recorded in the 2021-22 school year. The feature arrived the same week a Port Arthur, Texas, high school student told KPRC that an assistant football coach struck him with a paddle during a Saturday practice, an incident the Port Arthur Independent School District confirmed it is reviewing. The United States has no federal law banning corporal punishment in public schools. The practice is regulated entirely at the state and district level, creating a patchwork in which a disciplinary act that is legal in one school district is a criminal offense in the neighboring state.
Key Takeaways
- Fifteen states have laws explicitly permitting corporal punishment in public schools; 30 states plus Washington, D.C., have passed explicit bans; the remaining states have no statute directly addressing the practice
- The U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection recorded nearly 32,000 instances of corporal punishment in K-12 schools during the 2021-22 school year, approximately one reported incident per 2,000 students
- Almost all reported instances occurred in eight states, concentrated primarily in the South
- A Port Arthur, Texas, student said an assistant coach paddled him during football practice; the district’s policy allows corporal punishment unless parents submit a signed written opt-out to the campus principal each school year
- Multiple legislative efforts to pass a federal ban have stalled in Congress, including the Protecting Our Students Act introduced by Senator Chris Murphy in 2023
The Port Arthur Incident Illustrates How the System Works in Practice
Noah Lopez had been enrolled at Memorial High School in Port Arthur for approximately two weeks when he said a Saturday football practice became what he described as the most humiliating moment of his life. Lopez told KPRC that an assistant football coach struck him with a paddle as a disciplinary measure during the practice. His mother said she was not informed in advance that corporal punishment would be used and was asked to sign a form after the fact, which she refused.
Port Arthur Independent School District released a statement on August 18 confirming it is aware of the reported incident and is reviewing the circumstances to determine whether policy and procedure were followed. The district said its Board of Trustees will revisit the corporal punishment policy to consider whether changes are needed. Under the district’s current policy, corporal punishment is permitted by default. Parents who do not want the practice used on their children must submit a signed written statement to the campus principal opting out for the school year. The burden falls on the parent to proactively decline, not on the school to seek affirmative consent.
Henry Lopez, Noah’s father, said he never signed anything authorizing corporal punishment for his son and believes parents should be asked directly every time rather than having to navigate an opt-out system. Noah’s mother filed a report with police. No criminal charges have been announced. The family said Noah is afraid and embarrassed to return to school and is no longer interested in playing football. He has moved to stay with his father in another area.
The Legal Landscape Divides the Country Along Regional Lines
Texas law allows school districts to authorize corporal punishment if their board of trustees adopts a policy permitting it. The Texas Classroom Teachers Association defines the practice as “deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.” The definition explicitly excludes physical pain caused by reasonable athletic training, competition, or physical education, a distinction that complicates cases like the Port Arthur incident where the paddling occurred during a football practice.
Texas is one of 15 states where the practice is legal under state law, though local districts within those states may ban it independently. The NPR analysis found that the geographic concentration is stark. Almost all of the nearly 32,000 reported incidents in the 2021-22 federal data occurred in eight states, primarily across the South. Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana account for the overwhelming majority of cases. Thirty states plus Washington, D.C., have passed laws explicitly banning corporal punishment in all public schools. The most recent state to outlaw it was Idaho in 2023.
The remaining states occupy a gray area. Some have no statute directly addressing corporal punishment but have other laws that courts have interpreted as effective bans. Others simply have no law at all, leaving the question entirely to local districts without state-level guidance. The result is a system where whether a child can be legally struck by a school employee depends on which side of a state line the school sits on.
The Research Consensus and the Policy Gap
The American Academy of Pediatrics called in 2023 for corporal punishment to be banned in all school settings and replaced with evidence-based behavioral support practices. The organization’s position aligns with a broader consensus among child psychologists and researchers. Studies have consistently shown that students subjected to corporal punishment are more likely to exhibit increased aggression, anxiety, and depression. Elizabeth Gershoff of the University of Texas published research finding that no evidence exists that removing corporal punishment from schools creates environments where students fail to control their behavior.
The National Education Association has tracked the issue for years, noting that while the number of students experiencing the punishment has declined over the past decade, the practice remains legally authorized in a stubbornly persistent number of states. The reported incidents are also likely undercounted. The federal Civil Rights Data Collection relies on self-reporting by districts, and not all instances are documented or submitted.
Proponents of corporal punishment argue that physical consequences serve as an effective deterrent for misbehavior and that parents, not the federal government, should decide what disciplinary methods are appropriate for their children. The parental rights argument has gained political traction in recent years, intersecting with broader debates over parental authority in education that have shaped school board elections and state legislative agendas across the country. Opponents counter that the opt-out system in states like Texas effectively places the burden on parents to protect their children from a practice that research has demonstrated to be harmful, rather than requiring schools to justify its use.
Federal Legislation Has Repeatedly Stalled
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced the Protecting Our Students Act in May 2023, which would have prohibited corporal punishment in any school receiving federal funding. The bill did not advance. Previous legislative attempts to enact a federal ban have followed a similar pattern: introduction, committee referral, and quiet expiration without a floor vote. The political dynamics that stall these bills are not strictly partisan. The opposition draws from a combination of states’ rights arguments, parental authority frameworks, and a general reluctance in Congress to impose federal mandates on local school governance.
Morgan Craven, referenced in the NPR analysis as an advocate for ending corporal punishment nationally in public schools, has framed the absence of a federal ban as a civil rights issue, noting that the practice disproportionately affects students of color and students with disabilities. Federal data has shown that Black students are subjected to corporal punishment at rates significantly higher than their share of the student population, a disparity that persists even when controlling for school district demographics.
The Debate Arrives at a Moment of Heightened Attention to Child Safety
The NPR feature and the Port Arthur incident landed in the same week that a federal jury in Oakland began hearing opening arguments in the Meta child safety trial, where 29 state attorneys general are arguing that the company designed its platforms to be addictive to children. The two stories address different mechanisms of harm, but they share a common thread: the question of what institutions owe children in their care and what legal frameworks exist to enforce those obligations.
The corporal punishment debate also intersects with the ongoing national conversation about youth mental health, a conversation that has driven legislative action on social media regulation, school counseling funding, and parental notification requirements across multiple states. The overlap creates a political environment in which child safety is a consensus priority in rhetoric but a contested territory in practice. The U.S. remains an outlier among high-income nations on school corporal punishment. Most European countries, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand banned the practice decades ago. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly called on the U.S. to enact a federal prohibition.
For Noah Lopez and the families in Port Arthur navigating the aftermath of the Memorial High School incident, the policy debate is not abstract. The district is reviewing its procedures. The Board of Trustees may change its policy. The question of whether a school employee should be permitted to strike a student with a paddle in 2026, in any context, under any set of rules, is one that 15 state legislatures have answered in the affirmative and that Congress has declined to override.
FAQs
How many states allow corporal punishment in public schools?
Fifteen states have laws explicitly permitting corporal punishment in public schools, though individual districts within those states may ban it locally. Thirty states plus Washington, D.C., have passed explicit bans. The remaining states have no direct statute addressing the practice.
How common is corporal punishment in U.S. schools today?
The U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection recorded nearly 32,000 instances of corporal punishment in K-12 schools during the 2021-22 school year, approximately one reported incident per 2,000 students. Almost all incidents occurred in eight states, concentrated primarily in the South.
What happened at Port Arthur Memorial High School?
A student named Noah Lopez said an assistant football coach struck him with a paddle during a Saturday practice. The Port Arthur Independent School District confirmed it is reviewing the incident and said its Board of Trustees will consider policy changes. The district’s current policy allows corporal punishment unless parents submit a signed written opt-out each school year.
Is there a federal law banning corporal punishment in schools?
The United States has no federal law banning corporal punishment in public schools. The practice is regulated entirely at the state and district level. The Protecting Our Students Act, introduced by Senator Chris Murphy in 2023 to ban the practice in schools receiving federal funding, did not advance in Congress.
