North Carolina children’s advocates are asking lawmakers to consider a statewide ban of spanking of students with disabilities in public schools, the Associated Press reports.
Speakers at a General Assembly education committee meeting this week asked lawmakers to consider a paddling ban for children with physical, mental, or learning challenges when they reconvene in Raleigh in May, the story said.
Advocates have waged unsuccessful efforts for broader bans of corporal punishment in years past. The state House rejected a 2007 bill that would put a statewide ban on such practices. Last year, the House approved a bill giving parents the option of exempting their children from corporal punishment in districts where such penalties are used, but the state Senate defeated the idea, the story said.
The story reports that 30 states and the District of Columbia have barred corporal punishment in the public schools.
