The Coalition Against School Paddling filed discrimination complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office on February 6, 2010, 
for Civil Rights against the state departments of education in the twenty states where corporal punishment is permitted. The twenty states that permit corporal punishment in schools are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
The complaint was filed under the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act (also known as Title IX), based on the disproportionate damaging impact corporal punishment has on girls versus boys. The law prohibits sex discrimination in any education program receiving federal funding. The coalition anticipates this complaint will arouse a thorough examination by school officials and by the public on the practice of physical punishment in U.S. schools, as well as ultimately providing a legal basis for its prohibition.
Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Executive Director of the National Youth Rights Association, asserts, “There is no more basic right than to be free from violence; physical punishment of adults is not permissible, young people should expect no less.”
