Abolitionist Health Justice: Reimagining Educational Policy through a Public Health Lens

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Trauma and Health Equity: Building Bridges Between Public Health and Education

Abstract

Objectives:
This presentation critically examines how carceral logics embedded in educational policy—such as policing, surveillance, and punitive discipline—produce health inequities among Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students. The study’s objective is twofold: (1) to analyze how existing school policies reproduce structural violence that manifests as chronic stress and trauma, and (2) to propose abolitionist health justice as a framework for redesigning educational systems that prioritize wellness, care, and community accountability. The goal is to challenge dominant metrics of “safety” in schools and instead reframe health equity as a central goal of educational governance.
Theoretical Framework:
The study is grounded in abolitionist theory (Kaba, 2021), critical race policy analysis (CRPA; Dixson & Anderson, 2018), and health justice frameworks (Benfer et al., 2021). It draws on public health models that emphasize structural determinants of health and incorporates a healing justice orientation that views well-being as a collective, political, and cultural responsibility. The framework critiques carceral approaches to schooling and centers community-informed alternatives that reflect the lived realities of marginalized youth.
Methods:
This research employs a qualitative policy analysis methodology informed by youth participatory action research (YPAR). The inquiry analyzes policy artifacts (e.g., student handbooks, discipline codes, and memoranda of understanding with police departments) from three urban school districts. These documents are examined through a critical discourse lens to identify how language, power, and governance shape student health and well-being. Semi-structured interviews with students, educators, and community stakeholders supplement the document analysis.
Data Sources:
The study draws on a combination of (1) school discipline and policing policies from three large, racially diverse districts in California and the Midwest; (2) student and educator interviews (n = 25); (3) district-level budget and health services data; and (4) publicly available reports on school-based policing and student wellness outcomes. All data were coded and analyzed using NVivo software, with analytic memos documenting emergent themes and contradictions.
Results:
Findings reveal a direct correlation between the presence of school-based law enforcement and negative health indicators, including heightened anxiety, absenteeism, and psychosomatic symptoms. Zero-tolerance policies, surveillance infrastructure, and punitive discipline disproportionately targeted Black and Brown youth, particularly those with disabilities. In contrast, districts that invested in wellness centers, peer mediation, and community-led accountability structures reported greater student trust, lower disciplinary referrals, and improved school climate measures. Interviews highlighted students’ desire for care-based models rooted in dignity, restoration, and collective safety—not policing. These data support a shift away from punitive models toward transformative systems of educational care.
Scholarly Significance of the Study:
This study introduces abolitionist health justice as a novel interdisciplinary framework to analyze and transform education policy. It contributes to critical policy studies by centering racial and health equity in school governance and provides empirical evidence for public health–oriented educational reforms. The findings underscore the urgent need to divest from carceral models and reinvest in infrastructures of wellness, care, and community-led accountability. As such, the study offers a blueprint for educators, policymakers, and advocates committed to reimagining schools as sites of healing, not harm.

Author

• Patriccia Ordoñez-Kim, University of California - Riverside