New legislation signed by Governor Rick Snyder gives local school boards more discretion on student punishment. Under the existing Michigan law many districts had a "Zero-Tolerance" policy. Mich Association of School Administrators Executive Director Chris Wigent says he is pleased with the new bills.

“It does allow us to really make sure that we're looking at each student – their age, perhaps there's a student with disabilities, perhaps there are extenuating circumstances, or maybe it's just straight forward and we deal with it appropriately in that way too.”

Wigent says in the past the rules and guidelines were confusing and now with the new legislation school boards have to take all factors into consideration before making suspension or expulsion decisions.