Opinion: The unseen crisis of preschool expulsion

The 2024-2025 school year is in full swing, and it’s got me thinking about the unseen crisis many of our youngest learners will face. Preschool expulsion is a steadily growing concern for Utah children. According to the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC), preschoolers are expelled from programs at three times the rate of K-12 graders. The idea of expelling a child who is barely out of diapers shows the failure of our educational system during the most critical years of a child’s learning and development. Since these expulsions occur at twice the rate for Black children and four times the rate for boys, it is clear there is a bigger issue at play.
This issue is challenging to address because private preschools are not required to report suspensions or expulsions to the education board.
You might not think that preschool expulsion is a concern. After all, these children are between the ages of three and five. How much will they truly remember? Aren’t they just playing with blocks and baby toys anyway? Plus, they have their whole life ahead of them to excel in school.
In reality, expulsion from preschool isn’t just one momentary setback for a child or their family. It can have long-lasting impacts on their education, self-esteem and development. Further, families are left to find alternative education that may be more costly, further geographically and still lacking regulations that prevent another expulsion.
In particular, this impacts marginalized families and communities, further perpetuating cycles of harm and inequality. While Black children make up only 17% of preschool enrollment nationally, they make up 31% of out-of-school suspensions and 25% of expulsions. Black boys specifically make up 9% of preschool enrollment yet represent 23% of preschool out-of-school suspensions and 20% of preschool expulsions. These statistics are only gathered from public preschool settings.
According to the Utah State Board of Education, approximately 32% of preschool children in 2021-2022 were in private preschool centers or home-based preschools. The Utah State Board of Education does not oversee these private preschools and does not require them to report suspensions or expulsions.
Utah’s lack of legislation in private preschool settings increases the likelihood of children with challenging behaviors being expelled — many without prior support or interventions. For many children, this results in lost opportunities for social and emotional growth, ongoing behavioral problems and harmful effects on development. For students of color, the outcomes might be catastrophic. The increase in expulsion for students of color can create a revolving door of negative experiences with education and disruption to their early development — thus creating a preschool-to-prison pipeline.
Some might think it’s outrageous to say the school-to-prison pipeline starts in preschool. I argue that expelling a four-year-old for displaying typical developmental behavior is more outrageous. Worse still, many behavioral challenges are misunderstood signs of developmental differences, unmet needs or trauma. Instead of getting support, this cry for help from many kids results in zero-tolerance policies and harsh consequences like suspension and expulsion.
As a therapeutic specialist in early childhood mental health, I spend a lot of time with children who have been suspended or expelled from preschool settings. These children do not need suspensions or expulsions — they need unbiased adults who take the time to understand them and provide the support they need to reach their educational goals.
I believe that the way to disrupt this pattern of preschool expulsion is to rethink preschool regulations and policies — including zero tolerance. We must take responsibility for the gaps in our early education system and stop overlooking the most critical years in a child’s development. It is time to protect our youngest learners and invest in our children’s futures.
Haley Eastman earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Utah Valley University and is pursuing a master’s in social work at the University of Utah.