Ohio reports high race gap in school suspensions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ohio is among 12 states or jurisdictions reporting a high disparity between the suspension rates of black students and white students in public schools.

That’s according to a report released today by the Education Department’s civil rights division.

The report shows that 24 percent of black male students were suspended from school at least once, compared to 7 percent for white males — or a disparity of 17 points. Nationally, the black-white gap was 14 percentage points.

Among girls, 14 percent of black students were suspended, compared to 3 percent for whites. That 11-point disparity also was higher than the national gap of 10 points.

The report is for the 2011-2012 school year and covers pre-K through 12th grade.