Texas schools referred children ages 10 to 13 into the juvenile justice system more than 47,000 times after on-campus incidents since 2014, according to an analysis by The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News that The Texas Tribune published Sunday.
The reporters used Texas Juvenile Justice Department data going back to the 2014-15 school year. In 2024-25, the latest year available, about 4,800 students in that age range were referred, roughly a third more than a decade earlier. A referral usually follows an officer taking a child into custody, the report says; 10 is the youngest age at which a Texas child can be referred.
Most of the cases involved minor offenses such as threats, cannabis vapes or striking out at classmates or staff, and few involved serious injury, according to the analysis. Referrals for "terroristic threat" among 10- to 13-year-olds tripled over the decade to more than 600 a year.
Where the increase came from
The analysis found that roughly 60 districts, which enroll about a quarter of Texas students, drove the statewide rise, while Houston and Dallas ISDs cut referrals in recent years. Black children were referred at about twice the rate of white and Hispanic children.
The report ties the growth to a decade of districts adding officers, including a 2023 state law that requires a police officer at every public school. State law tells school officers to stay out of "routine student discipline" but does not define the phrase.
Two North Texas districts are named. Forney ISD's police department, created in 2020, referred 42 students ages 10 to 13 the next school year, more than in the previous six years combined, according to the report; its former chief said the district wanted to "set the tone early."
