COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some Ohioans are pushing for the elimination of zero tolerance policies in public schools, both because of a lack of common sense in punishments and a disproportionate impact on minority students.

Democratic state Sen. Charleta Tavares is pushing for Education Committee chair Sen. Peggy Lehner, a Kettering Republican, to consider legislation to abolish state-mandated zero-tolerance polices for public schools instituted in the 1990s, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

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Tavaras wants administrators to have more leeway and to consider a variety of factors when leveling student discipline, rather than to follow prescribed suspension and expulsion policies for nonviolent offenses. Her legislation would task local schools with developing a multifaceted approach to student discipline, and would prohibit zero-tolerance policies.

“Children are coming into the school with multiple traumas. They’re acting out because they don’t know how to handle it,” Tavaras told the news site.

The Children’s Defense Fund reports Ohio schools issued more than 210,000 out-of-school suspensions and more than 3,400 expulsions in the 2012-13 school year. About 54 percent of the suspensions and 21 percent of expulsions were for nonviolent behavior. Nearly 6,000 Ohio students were also suspended for being truant, and 152 were expelled for truancy in 2013-14 – with more 1,000 of the suspensions in Columbus City Schools, according to state education figures cited by the Dispatch.

The People’s Justice Project and the Ohio ACLU both back Tavaras’ bill, primarily because the policies impact minority, disabled, and sexually abnormal students the most.

The Gay Straight Alliance Network quoted Tavares’ testimony on the bill in March.

“A disproportionate number of the total number of disciplinary incidents in Ohio public schools affected black students and students with disabilities. Black students in Ohio public schools for the 2012-13 school year accounted for 52 percent of all suspensions and 53 percent of all expulsions, even though black students comprise only 15.9 percent of students enrolled in Ohio schools,” Tavaras said.

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“Students with disabilities account for 27.5 percent of all suspensions, but only 14.8 percent of total enrollment. Black students are over 6 times more likely to be suspended than white students, and students with disabilities are approximately twice as likely to be suspended,” she continued.

“Students with emotional disturbance – a certain category of disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – however, are over 6 times more likely to be suspended. And if you put race and disability together, a black student with emotional disturbance is 25 times more likely to be suspended than a White student with no disability.”

The Ohio ACLU supported the same legislation when it was introduced by Tavares last year.

“The ACLU of Ohio opposes zero-tolerance policies because they promote harsh and often uncalled-for punishment, treating all infractions equally regardless of the underlying misbehavior. Such policies criminalize minor incidents of misconduct, pushing students out of their schools and into the juvenile or criminal justice systems,” according to the ACLU site.

“These students then face the lasting effects of having severe punishments on their permanent records and falling behind in their education. These policies have also been shown to disproportionately affect children with disabilities as well as children of color.”

At a downtown Columbus rally to support the legislation last year, several students spoke out about how the policies impacted their education.

Tristina Allen, member of the Ohio Students Association, told the rally she was hauled out of her high school in handcuffs after the then 14-year-old hit a classmate.

““I was a good kid, I really was. I made one mistake, and they treated me like I committed murder,” said Allen, who went on to attend Wright State University despite the episode. “I’m just one student; how many other students were impacted by that?”

Those at the rally also cited the three-day suspension of 10-year-old Nathan Entingh, who was removed from his class at Devonshire Alternative Elementary School for making a gun gesture with his hand last year, the Dispatch reports.

Tavaras’ 2015 bill has not had a hearing since it was introduced in February and assigned to the Education Committee, though the senator seems hopeful it will gain traction “after the holidays.”