Lawmakers Push To Keep Corporal Punishment, Advocacy Groups Seek Ban

State lawmakers are studying "the effectiveness of properly administered corporal punishment." The study, held Monday afternoon, was led by Representative Jim Olsen, who says he wants to ensure that parents and teachers who want to participate in corporal punishment have the ability to do so.

Meanwhile, many child advocacy groups across the state are pushing to outlaw corporal punishment altogether.

Under current state law, corporal punishment is generally allowed in Oklahoma schools. However, when it comes to students with special needs, it is not permitted unless parents have given their consent.

Corporal punishment is defined in state law as “hitting, slapping, paddling, or inflicting any kind of physical pain on students.”

In Oklahoma, a majority of school districts no longer allow corporal punishment, with about 140 of more than 500 districts still permitting the practice.

Advocates speaking at the interim study noted that in the 1980s, there were at least 50,000 instances yearly of state schools administering corporal punishment. In 2021, that number dropped to about 2,000 instances, but those advocates say corporal punishment needs to be outlawed altogether. "We already know trauma is at an all-time high, and retraumatizing children is the very thing that we're working and fighting against,” said Melanie Andregg, with the Parent-Child Center of Tulsa. “Corporal punishment is a prime definition of what abuse is, and it's laying hands on an innocent individual.”

Gary Duhon, a professor of school psychology at Oklahoma State University, raised several questions to the speakers who were pro-corporal punishment. “It was described that it could be effective under the right conditions, with the right children, at the right time, for the right personnel. There's no guarantee that's gonna happen, and if it doesn't happen, who are we putting at risk?” asked Duhon. “The way I present this is: Is the juice worth the squeeze? Is delivering corporal punishment that way under those circumstances worth the benefit?”

Two Oklahoma superintendents shared testimony at the study, saying corporal punishment has been effective in their districts. “I think a myth out there is that we’re out there paddling and beating the kids all the time; that is just absolutely not the case,” said Dr. David Vinson, superintendent of Warner Public Schools.

Dr. Vinson says they have a policy in place to ensure parents are okay with the use of corporal punishment, requiring each parent to sign a waiver at the beginning of each school year. “Not only that, we give them a call before we administer corporal punishment to ensure they’re still okay with it,” said Dr. Vinson.

Meanwhile, Kyle Reynolds, superintendent of Seiling Public Schools, says that instead of administering corporal punishment, there should be an increased effort to provide resources and support to Oklahoma teachers.

"At the end of the day, there are a lot of different ways to approach student behavior,” said Reynolds. “Talk about providing real support for our kids and for our education system in Oklahoma through multi-tiered systems of support.”

Representative Olsen says he has no plans to introduce legislation that would force any parents or districts to perform corporal punishment if they’re not comfortable doing so. Instead, he says he just wants to ensure each district has the local control to make that decision on its own. “We just want to insist that it be left up to individual families and schools. Therefore, the state has no right to prohibit this for all parents or to prohibit this for all schools,” said Rep. Olsen.

Representative Olsen also made biblical references, saying corporal punishment is not condemned by the Bible. "We can't play fast and loose with the clear text of the Bible," Rep. Olsen said, adding, "Read Proverbs 19:18. Read Hebrews 12:11. The words of the King James Bible are very clear. If we will honor the clear statements that God tells us in the Bible, things will go better for us."

For at least two years, Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to prohibit corporal punishment on disabled students, but the bill has died in the state House both times. Advocacy groups say they hope a legislator will run the bill again in the upcoming session, with hopes that it becomes law in 2025.