Dress Codes and School-Uniform Policies, State by State
No state to date has legislatively mandated the wearing of school uniforms.
Following is a roundup of legislation collected from responses to queries
submitted to state department of education personnel and/or gleaned from each
state’s website. If your state is not listed, its omission does not necessarily
mean it has no legislation pertaining to student dress. Consult your local
authorities.
For more complete information about legislation in your state, contact officials
at your state’s education department. You can begin your search at
www.50states.com.
ERIC/CEM personnel polled officials in all fifty states for information on
statutes regarding dress codes and uniforms. We also searched the statutes
posted on each state’s website. Key features of the statutes we located are
summarized in the following list.
Although most dress codes and uniform policies are developed at the district or
school level, twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have enacted
laws—with varying degrees of detail and interpretation—that address school
dress. Some state statutes affect only dress codes with no mention of uniforms;
others address dress codes and uniform policies separately; others include
uniforms within dress codes.
Arizona
Uniforms: District boards have the discretionary power to require students to
wear uniforms.
Arkansas
Dress Codes: District boards may, if they choose, form a parent/student advisory
committee to determine whether a student dress code should be enacted. If so,
the issue will be brought to the voters in the district for approval.
California
Dress Codes: Districts may establish a reasonable dress code, as part of their
school safety plan, that prohibits pupils from wearing gang-related apparel.
Uniforms: Districts may also require students to wear uniforms. Parents must be
informed six months before the uniform policy takes effect. The policy must
provide an opt-out clause and ensure that no student will undergo sanctions for
not participating.
Colorado
Dress Codes: Local boards may establish dress codes that require minimum
standards of dress.
Uniforms: Local boards may require students to wear school uniforms.
Connecticut
Uniforms: Local or regional boards may adopt a school-uniform policy.
Delaware
Dress Codes/Uniforms: District boards have the authority to create and enforce a
dress-code program, which may include school uniforms. The program must ensure
that uniforms are offered at an affordable price and include a plan to assist
economically disadvantaged students in obtaining uniforms.
District of Columbia
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Each superinten-dent’s long-term reform plan must describe
how the district will develop and implement a dress code, which may include
uniforms. The dress code must include a prohibition of gang membership symbols
and take into account the relative costs of any such code for each student.
Florida
Dress Codes/Uniforms: School boards may require uniforms to be worn by students
or impose other dress-related requirements if the boards find those requirements
are necessary for the safety and welfare of students or school personnel.
Illinois
Dress Codes/Uniforms: When “necessary to maintain the orderly process of a
school function or prevent endangerment of student health or safety,” school
boards may establish uniform policies for all or some schools under their
jurisdiction. The policy must allow a grace period, during which students who
have not purchased uniforms or dress-code compliant clothes will not be
disciplined. The policy must also make provisions to accommodate economically
disadvantaged students and allow for parental opt-out on religious grounds.
Indiana
Dress Codes: The governing body of a school corporation must establish written
discipline rules, which may include dress codes.
Iowa
Dress Codes: District boards may establish a dress code districtwide, or
individual schools may do so, that bans gang-related or other specified apparel
if the board determines that the code is necessary for the health and safety of
students and staff or for the appropriate discipline and operation of the
school.
Kansas
Dress Codes: In the section of the law that details grounds for which a student
may be suspended or expelled, school boards have the authority to establish
dress codes.
Louisiana
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Local school boards may establish a dress code that
includes uniforms. The policy must contain an opt-out provision and require no
expenditure of school or school board funds.
Maryland
Uniforms: The school board has the authority to implement a uniform policy in
the public schools in Prince George’s County.
Massachusetts
Dress Codes: By law, school officials may not “abridge the rights of students as
to personal dress and appearance” by imposing dress codes unless personal dress
“violates reasonable standards of health, safety, and cleanliness.”
Minnesota
Uniforms: Under the statute governing authorized fees, the law says that if a
school board adopts a uniform policy, students are required to purchase a school
uniform. The board must promote student, staff, parent, and community
involvement in the program and “account for the financial ability of students to
purchase uniforms.”
Missouri
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Public school districts may determine whether a dress-code
policy that requires students to wear a school uniform is appropriate for any
school within the district. If so, the district may determine the style of the
uniform.
Nevada
Dress Codes: School boards may adopt a dress code for teachers and staff within
their districts.
Uniforms: Boards may, “in consultation with the schools within the district,
parents and legal guardians of pupils who are enrolled in the district, and
associations and organizations representing licensed educational personnel
within the district,” establish a uniform policy. The policy must include a
description of the uniform and specify which students must wear a uniform and
when they must wear it. Boards must help parents or guardians who request
financial assistance to purchase uniforms.
New Hampshire
Dress Codes: The law states: “While a school board does have power to adopt
reasonable restrictions on dress as part of its educational policy and as an
educational device, the school board’s power must be limited to that required by
its function of administering public education.”
New Jersey
Dress Codes/Uniforms: On the request of the principal, staff, and parents of
students at a school, the local board may enact a dress code that includes
uniforms, provided the board finds the policy will improve the “school learning
environment.” The policy, when adopted after a public hearing, must give parents
three months’ notice and include a provision to assist economically
disadvantaged families. The principal, staff, and parents of students at
individual schools will choose the uniform. The board may choose to add a family
opt-out clause, and students who opt out cannot be sanctioned academically or
otherwise.
New York
Dress Codes: Currently, local school boards may set provisions regarding student
dress deemed “appropriate and acceptable” and dress deemed “unacceptable and
inappropriate” on school property. A bill introduced in the state assembly in
2002, currently held for consideration, directs the commissioner of education to
adopt rules requiring all school districts to study and adopt dress codes.
North Carolina
Uniforms: The state board of education may authorize school-uniform pilot
programs in as many as five local districts. The state board will develop
guidelines for local boards to use when establishing uniform policies. The
guidelines will recommend ways to involve parents and the community in the pilot
programs, protect students’ rights, and consider the ability of students to
purchase the uniforms. No state funds will be used for uniforms.
Ohio
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Local boards may adopt dress codes or uniform policies
under the conditions that principals, staff, and parents are given the
opportunity to offer suggestions and comments; parents receive six months’
notice before a specific uniform is required; a plan for helping low-income
families obtain uniforms is part of the policy; and students who participate in
a nationally recognized youth organization are allowed to wear that
organization’s uniform on days that the organization has a scheduled activity.
Oregon
Uniforms:Local school boards in Oregon have the authority to impose uniform
policies without state legislation.
Oklahoma
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Local boards have the option of adopting a dress code that
includes school uniforms.
Pennsylvania
Dress Codes/Uniforms: Local boards have the option of adopting a dress code that
includes school uniforms. Dress codes and uniform policies may apply throughout
a district or only to individual schools.
Tennessee
Uniforms: The state board of education will create guidelines for local boards
that choose to adopt a uniform policy. The guidelines will require that uniforms
be “simple, appropriate, readily available, and inexpensive.”
Texas
Uniforms: Each district board may adopt a school uniform policy. The policy must
indicate where monies will come from for purchasing uniforms for economically
disadvantaged families, provide an opt-out provision, and go into effect ninety
days after the board adopts the rules.
Utah
Uniforms: Local boards may implement school-uniform policies after holding a
public hearing. If 20 percent of parents of students sign a petition objecting
to the policy and the petition is presented to the local board within 30 days of
the adoption of the policy, an election must be held to consider revocation of
the policy.
Virginia
Uniforms: The state board of education will develop guidelines for local boards
to use when establishing uniform policies. The guidelines will suggest ways to
involve parents and the community, protect students’ rights, and consider the
ability of students to purchase the uniforms. No state funds will be used for
uniforms.
Washington
DressCodes/Uniforms: School district boards may establish dress codes that
prohibit gang-related apparel and mandate uniforms. They may not prohibit
students from wearing clothing in observance of their religion. If students are
required to wear uniforms, school districts “shall accommodate students so that
the uniform requirement is not an unfair barrier to school attendance and
participation.” Students who participate in a nationally recognized youth
organization must be allowed to wear that organization’s uniform on days that
the organization has a scheduled activity.
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