In 1969 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students had a right to protest peacefully on school grounds , as long as they did so without " materially and substantially " disturbing class . Until the 1970s , it had been a common practice for " problem youth " to be " pushed out " of the educational system . By the decade of the 1970s , court decisions began to stress that all had the right to an education within the educational system . It therefore resulted in students who had been found to be delinquent " could no longer legally be dismissed from school on the recommendation of a teacher or an administrator " . School counselors were then tasked with working with behavioral and emotional problems with students who previously would have been expelled or sent to reform schools . ( Cox & Conrad , 1978 ) " School disturbance laws started to become integral to school discipline in the 1990s , in response to rising fears of school violence , high-profile shootings in schools ( such as the Columbine High School massacre ) , and passage of " zero-tolerance laws " such as the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 , following which many more police were installed in schools across the US . From the mid-1970s to 2008 , the number of schools with police stationed on campus rose from approximately 1 percent to 40 percent . " In the early 21st century concerns about the laws and their application began to be addressed in some states . A 2011 study of nearly 1 million Texas students found that nearly 60 % of students were suspended or expelled at least once between grades 7 and 12 . " In 2012 , Texas changed the law such that students could no longer be charged with " disrupting class " and no student younger than 12 years could be charged with a " low-level misdemeanor at school " . Additional steps requiring obtaining witness statements and writing formal complaints by officers were implemented
Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
School disturbance laws