Proposal to ban corporal punishment in public schools fails to pass in the Louisiana House by two votes

BATON ROUGE –  A proposal to ban corporal punishment in public schools failed to pass the House by two votes. Oil City Republican Danny McCormick is among the opponents of the legislation. He says it’s a parental rights issue.

“I know the parents in my district didn’t send me down here to make a decision whether a child should be spanked in school or no, so that’s my opposition to the bill,” said McCormick.

The bill received 51 “yes” votes but it needs 53 votes to pass the House. It can come up for a vote again in the House. A similar measure failed to get House approval last year.

Alexandria Representative Lance Harris says he supports the bill because a principal in Rapides Parish is facing charges for a spanking that allegedly got out of hand.

“I voted against this bill last year, but going through the committee and doing the research on this, this needs to be done in our state now,” said Harris.

But Stonewall Representative Larry Bagley says schools should make the decision on whether corporal punishment should be allowed, not the state.

“Individual parishes decide that and the people elected by those people in that parish decide, I think anytime we allow the state to take up for elected officials we are sending the wrong signals,” said Bagley.

 

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