(RNS1-JUL08) Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., has introduced a bill to ban corporal punishment at any public or private school that receives federal funding. For use with RNS-SCHOOLS-PUNISH, transmitted July 8, 2010. RNS photo courtesy Office of Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.

WASHINGTON (RNS) A proposed bill aims to put a stop to teacher-administered spanking, making corporal punishment illegal in any school — including private religious ones — that receives even a trickle of federal funding.

Religious school groups, usually quick to guard against government encroachment, have few worries about the bill because officials said many abandoned hitting as a punishment years ago.

“Whether you believe it’s right or wrong, it’s just too big of a liability or legal issue,” said Tom Cathey, a legislative analyst for the Association of Christian Schools International, an umbrella group for private Christian schools.

“We recommend that our schools not use corporal punishment.”

Introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., the bill would ban schools from practicing any corporal penalties “as a form of punishment,” or “for the purpose of modifying undesirable behavior.”

The bill would cover public schools and any private schools that receive federal money for free lunch programs or bus rides for their poorer students. The bill currently has 18 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats, and the support of the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers union and the National Parents Teachers Association.

Currently, 20 states allow corporal punishment in public schools, according to the Department of Education. Where it is allowed, corporal punishment is more likely to be disproportionately applied to minority students (36 percent) and disabled students (19 percent).

“Corporal punishment does not work and in fact leads to increased negative behavior and dropout rates,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., a co-sponsor of the bill. “Moreover, the fact that schools are applying school discipline policies in a discriminatory manner based on race, color, national origin, disability, or gender constitutes a civil rights violation.”

A nun’s swift rap across the knuckles was once a hallmark of the Catholic educational system in America. But in recent decades, the practice has made more appearances in comedic routines than classrooms, a relic of a time gone by when most teachers belonged to religious orders.

“I think corporal punishment has not been an issue for a long, long time,” said Brian Gray, a spokesman for the National Catholic Educational Association.

Gray, who attended a Catholic school, said he was never hit by a teacher. “I never got touched by a ruler,” he said.

His association does not yet have a stance on the bill, but Gray said he was sure that it would affect Catholic schools because many benefit from federal money in some way. He did not see compliance as an issue, however.

Almost half of all Catholic schools in the U.S. receive government money in the form of the federal nutrition program, according to yearly NCEA statistics, and almost as many schools receive federal money to bus students to and from school.

The bill does not ban the use of “reasonable restraint” should a student’s behavior put other students or school personnel at a risk of injury.

The proposed bill comes amid a growing debate among psychologists on whether spanking is an effective and safe punishment tool.

“Psychologists don’t all agree that spanking is always harmful to children,” said Kim Mills, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association. “Some psychologists have a belief that certain levels of gentle punishment may be effective.”

The American Psychological Association’s official stance is that corporal punishment should not be allowed in schools, day care centers or other institutions.

Juli Slattery, a family psychologist at Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, suggests tempered spanking on young children as one of many disciplinary tools available to parents.

The bill, she said, is indicative of American society’s collective disagreement on how to punish its children.

“You can’t get a consensus, she said. “It was much more agreed upon in our parents’ generation.”

The responsibility for discipline, Slattery said, should ultimately rest with parents or guardians, not schools. But she does worry that bills like McCarthy’s encourage a child’s disregard for consequences.

“I think it’s a step in downplaying discipline,” she said.

The legislation could set a worrisome precedent for more government regulation of private schools, said Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America.

“We are certainly not enamored of corporal punishment,” Shafran said. “But we are concerned with the rights of religious schools.”