Texas disciplinary – Texas sends more than 100,000 students each year to DAEPs—disciplinary alternative education programs. A Hechinger Report investigation finds those placements can be triggered by discretionary local conduct codes, often with limited family recourse, strict dai
When Texas sends a student to a disciplinary alternative education program, it’s supposed to be for serious behavior. The state legislature created DAEPs in 1995 during rising national concern about school violence. framing the program as a step up from suspension for students who committed serious offenses.
But the investigation into DAEPs paints a different picture of how the system works on the ground. Today. students can be sent to DAEPs for weeks and sometimes months for a range of offenses—from vaping and making threats to bringing a weapon to campus. and even for trouble with law enforcement off campus.
Educators argue alternative schools can protect teachers and other students and give a structured response to severe misbehavior. Critics say the problem isn’t discipline as a concept—it’s what happens when discretion expands, oversight stays thin, and families face steep barriers to reversal.
Records review shows DAEPs can start with relatively minor behavior. The investigation reviewed records from dozens of school districts and found students were placed in DAEPs for infractions such as insubordination, attendance issues, dress code violations, and profanity.
Those misbehaviors are not explicitly listed in state law as reasons to send a student to an alternative program. Yet districts can use their discretion for any behavior that violates their local code of conduct. In the 2024-25 school year. nearly 36. 000 DAEP placements were made because of code of conduct violations—compared to under 12. 000 for assault.
Critics point to the legislature’s own movement toward codifying that approach. They say the state took a step toward making this discretionary route more explicit last year when it passed a bill allowing districts to send kids to DAEPs for disruptions.
Even when families try to fight a placement, the process is hard to change. State law requires that before a student is sent to a DAEP. a hearing be held to weigh evidence and mitigating factors. But the hearing is handled by the school district rather than a neutral party. and a district employee makes the final determination.
Families also don’t always have a right to appeal to district leaders or the school board. The law does not provide a path to elevate a complaint to the Texas Education Agency, and courts have historically ruled they do not have jurisdiction in this area.
For many students, the daily experience inside DAEPs is described as rigid and punitive. Based on an analysis of handbooks from 75 districts. students in these programs are often forbidden from speaking in class unless permission is granted. When moving between classes. they are generally required to walk in a single-file line—sometimes with their hands behind their backs.
Strict dress codes are common as well, banning facial hair, jewelry, and sandals. Rules also have a way of turning time into leverage: extra days can be added to a placement if a student breaks any rule.
Then there is the question of what education looks like during the separation. Because students cycle in and out of DAEPs across different courses and grades throughout the year. much of their schoolwork is completed independently. often on computers. For students with long placements, that can mean going months without live instruction.
The investigation also ties DAEP assignments to graduation outcomes. Research suggests students assigned to DAEPs are less likely to graduate from high school on time. The investigation cites that only 44 percent of ninth graders placed in a DAEP graduated four years later. compared with 84 percent of students who received no discipline and 70 percent of students who had been assigned one in-school suspension.
Some groups appear to be pushed into DAEPs more often than others. In the 2024-25 school year. Black students made up about 13 percent of the overall student body in Texas but accounted for 22 percent of all students placed in DAEPs. Males also were assigned this punishment at a higher rate than females, accounting for about two-thirds of all placements.
The investigation adds another layer for students with disabilities. State law requires educators to take into account a student’s disability status before sending a student to an alternative school. Even so. students in special education made up nearly a quarter of such placements. despite representing 17 percent of the total student population.
Once in a DAEP, students can receive additional days if they do not follow all school rules. Experts say that students with disabilities often have difficulty with the rigid structure and can end up staying longer.
Put together, the facts trace a system built on separation, discretion, and rules—where placements can expand beyond explicitly listed offenses, hearings remain inside the district that makes the decision, and undoing a DAEP placement can be a maze families rarely succeed in navigating.
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