As school districts across Texas have sent tens of thousands of children as young as 10 into the justice system, some school districts in Harris County have worked to keep more kids out of the school to prison pipeline.
About 4,800 Texas children ages 10 to 13 were referred for prosecution after incidents at school during the 2024-25 academic year, often for minor misbehavior like making threats, vaping or lashing out at classmates. That is about a third more than a decade earlier, according to an investigation by The New York Times and the San Antonio Express-News, and represents about 29 kids for every 10,000 enrolled students.
But in Harris County, several school districts saw substantial declines in referral rates over the same period. Spring Branch ISD recorded one of the steepest drops, from nearly 27 children per 10,000 students in grades five through eight to just six. Spring ISD’s rate fell from about 16 to six, while Pasadena ISD’s dropped from 16 to 10…