Missouri school district made headlines for bringing back spanking. But the practice is still legal in over a dozen states.

A Missouri school district has gained national attention and prompted protests among its high school students after announcing it was bringing back "corporal punishment," including spanking and paddling.

The move to expand paddling in a U.S. school district is unusual, but data shows the practice is still legal in over a dozen states. The latest federal data suggests tens of thousands of students were subjected to the physical punishment in public schools as recently as 2018.

But in Missouri, students are pushing back. Students Against Abusive Policies said the June school board decision to reinstate paddling causes psychological and physical harm. Some parents say they support the policy, though, because it mirrors punishments they endured in their youth.

What punishment will be allowed in the Cassville, Missouri School District?

Missouri's Cassville School District ended its previous corporal punishment policy in 2001, but brought it back in response to requests from parents, according to the Superintendent Merlyn Johnson.

In Cassville schools, corporal punishment will be used only "when all other alternative means of discipline have failed and then only in reasonable form and upon the recommendation of the principal."

The only corporal punishment allowed in Cassville is "swatting the buttocks with a paddle," according to the policy. Johnson said one or two swings will be allowed for younger students, and up to three for older students.

What's next?

• At the end of the 2022-23 school year, Johnson's administrative team plans to determine what influence the corporal punishment had on reducing student discipline.

• Students with Cassville High School's Students Against Abusive Policies group said they are organizing protests as soon as this week. They also plan to speak out at coming board meetings and ask school leaders to remove the policy.

Is spanking in schools legal? In some states, yes

In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ingraham v. Wright that school corporal punishment was constitutional, which left local authorities the discretion to permit it.

Missouri is one of 19 states, mostly in the South and West, where corporal punishment is still allowed.

Half of states banned school corporal punishment between 1974 and 1994. Corporal punishment is legal in private schools in every state except New Jersey and Iowa, according to the Private School Review.

How common is spanking in schools?

About 70,000 public school students faced corporal punishment, such as paddling, during the 2017-18 school year, the most recent year federal data is available.

Male students were more likely than female students to be subjected to corporal punishment, the data shows. Black students and students with disabilities were also disproportionately more likely to be corporally punished.

The number of students facing corporal punishment appears to be going down: In 2016, about 160,000 students were subjected to the punishment annually, according to a report from the Society for Research in Child Development, a Washington, D.C.-based policy group.

In which states is corporal punishment most common?

Among the 19 states that allow the practice, some recorded more instances than others, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Ten states reported more than 1,000 instances of the punishment, according to the latest data: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

Five states reported fewer than 1,000 instances: Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina.

In four states where the practice is legal, there were zero instances of corporal punishment recorded that year: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas and Wyoming.

What do experts say about corporal punishment in schools?

Experts have long said this form of punishment can cause physical harm and that it could violate federal laws protecting children in public education from discrimination by race, gender or disability status.

Calls to abolish corporal punishment have long been sounded by advocacy groups, educators and the United Nations Children's Fund.

Experts have argued that if an adult were to strike another adult at school, it would be considered assault.

Does corporal punishment work?

Corporal punishment has been linked with lower math and vocabulary achievement scores and lower self-efficacy and self-esteem, according to a report from the Society for Research in Child Development.

Students who think they are being discriminated against may also experience poorer mood, and less academic engagement, as well as higher depression, anxiety and negative behaviors, the report says.

The report also found states that have removed corporal punishment from schools have not seen increases in juvenile crime.

An analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center showed racial disparities among students who are subject to corporal punishment. Black boys were twice as likely to receive corporal punishment than white boys, while Black girls were three times as likely to receive it as white girls, the analysis showed.

Besides harmful effects on individual students, Cassville High School senior Gabe Moore said the new corporal punishment made his school look bad.

Student leaders with the Students Against Abusive Policies group said the return to corporal punishment has grabbed headlines and created a backlash in Missouri and across the U.S.

"There is obviously this negative view of our school now, and as it gets bigger and bigger, it looks worse and worse," Kalia Miller said.

Moore said his parents wnot opting in for corporal punishment.

"Now we are known for creating bad policies," he said.

Contributing: Claudette Riley, Springfield News-Leader; Greg Toppo, USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How common is corporal punishment in schools?