Officials Call Gun Report Proof of Crackdown

By Jessica Portner

Federal education officials say a report showing that 6,093 students were expelled last school year for bringing firearms to campus provides proof that schools are cracking down on such offenses.

But school safety experts--and the report itself--say the number of expulsions in the nation's schools is likely higher than the figure reported in the U.S. Department of Education survey.

The department's state-by-state survey is the first tally of expulsions since Congress passed the Gun Free Schools Act in 1994. The act requires states, as a condition of receiving federal elementary and secondary education funding, to put in place laws under which students who bring guns to school are expelled for at least one year. All states...