Texas schools have referred children ages 10 to 13 for prosecution more than 47,000 times since 2014, and the yearly count has climbed as districts put more police officers on campuses, according to an analysis by The New York Times and the San Antonio Express-News published Sunday by The Texas Tribune.
About 4,800 students in that age range were referred during the 2024-25 school year, the latest year with data, which the reporters say is a third more than a decade earlier. A referral usually follows an officer taking a child into custody; 10 is the youngest age at which a Texas child can be referred, and students 17 and older are treated as adults.
What the numbers show
The analysis is built on Texas Juvenile Justice Department data covering school years since 2014-15. It found that most of the referred students were accused of minor offenses, such as making threats, using cannabis vapes or lashing out at classmates or teachers, and that few caused serious physical harm.
Referrals of 10- to 13-year-olds rose faster than referrals of older students and outpaced enrollment growth. They rose for young children of every race, with Black children referred at about twice the rate of white and Hispanic children. Referrals of students in that age group for making a "terroristic threat" tripled over the decade to more than 600 a year.
Some of the largest districts, including Houston and Dallas, have cut referrals in recent years. The reporters traced the statewide increase to roughly 60 districts that educate about a quarter of Texas students, many of which added officers to elementary and middle schools or took a tougher approach.
Law and response
State law already says school officers should stay out of "routine student discipline," but it does not define the term or set penalties for crossing that line, the story notes. A 2023 state law requires a police officer at every public school, the story says.
