James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, once framed disciplinary practices in schools as an outflow of the ideas behind criminal justice reforms he hoped lawmakers would implement in Texas.
“I’m recently excited about the formation of a bipartisan criminal justice reform caucus in the Texas House with prominent Democrats and prominent Republicans who understand that we have to move away from a tough-on-crime approach to a smart-on-crime approach, and that, I think, filters down to our schools,” Talarico said in a 2020 interview on school disciplinary practices and their effect on minorities.
Talarico’s train of thought, from criminal reform laws to changes in educational discipline, demonstrates his underlying beliefs about moving away from punitive corrections.
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Talarico fleshed out his view, detailing how the changes would affect the educational system.
“[We are] starting in elementary school, where we really pursue restorative practices that are going to rehabilitate our students who are suffering from trauma, our students who are feeling unsafe in school and our students who harm a classroom community.”
Talarico was referring to “restorative justice,” a view that links misbehavior to past personal and emotional experiences. In the words of Texas Appleseed, a group that promotes “social, economic and racial justice,” restorative justice in education emphasizes the relational cost of conflict as a way to deter future bad behavior. “Restorative Justice, when applied to a school setting, focuses on how student behavior has harmed others and how to make amends. Schools use it to build community and strengthen student–school connections,” the group wrote in a definition submitted to lawmakers.
The approach is often mentioned as an alternative to “zero tolerance” policies that focus on punishments that deter discouraged conduct.
To Talarico, its adoption could deemphasize other forms of punishments.
“What that means is really allowing students to repair the harms that they’ve caused in a classroom community. It’s a lot more rigorous and a lot more effective than just expelling a student or suspending a student or removing them from a classroom community,” Talarico said.
While in the Texas legislature in 2021, Talarico introduced a bill, HB 62, which would have sought to move schools away from in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and removing kids to alternative educational programs.
The bill stalled in committee and never became law.
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In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, Republican lawmakers pushed back against Talarico’s line of reasoning, arguing that, despite some calls for leniency, repercussions for problematic behavior are sometimes unavoidable.
“Look, I don’t want to see a kid go to jail for being caught with some pot. I don’t want to see a kid go to jail because he gets into a fight with another kid,” Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, a Republican, told interviewers.
“That’s clearly not the intent here. But if you’ve got a kid that is violent and is consistently violent, and they’ve been violent toward other children and teachers, then we either have to reach that kid or we have to remove that kid. They shouldn’t be in the classroom. Period.”
Talarico’s statements are consistent with past calls to step away from law enforcement and prisons and towards social programs — calls that also show his beliefs about the best ways to deter criminal behavior.
“If we took just half of what we spent on wars, prisons, and policing and spent it on education, health care, and jobs, we could make prisons obsolete,” Talarico said in a 2022 speech to a graduation ceremony for incarcerated students.
A little later on in that same speech, Talarico went further, calling the idea of prisons themselves a kind of violence.
“My experience as a teacher, a legislator, and a Christian tells me that birds don’t belong in cages; children don’t belong in cages; people don’t belong in cages. Poverty is violence. Pollution is violence. And yes, prison is violence,” Talarico said.
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“I’m not asking you to join the system; I’m asking you to change the system. Dismantle this system of violence.”
When asked about his views on criminal justice and how they link to education, Talarico’s campaign said he has always prioritized both safety and smart-on-crime approaches, noting that he had been a member of the state’s criminal reform caucus.
“James joined his Republican colleagues on this caucus because as a former public school teacher, James cares about keeping Texas students safe. James agrees with most Texans that we government should be smart-on-crime, and our students deserve all the support possible,” JT Ennis, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“While James has passed bills in the legislature to deny bail for violent criminals, crack down on violent felons and send billions of dollars to support law enforcement, Ken Paxton has abused his office to benefit his wealthy donors and the well-connected — allowing criminals back on the street even as it made Texans less safe. Even Ken Paxton’s fellow Republicans have blasted his public safety record: more murders, soft on human trafficking, and pedophiles walking free,” he added, referring to Talarico’s Republican challenger, former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Having cleared the primary and secured his party’s nomination, Talarico will face off against Paxton in the Nov. 3 general election.
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