WE DIDN’T have high expectations for the school safety commission established by President Trump following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. When asked if guns would be a subject, the study leader, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, replied, “That is not part of the commission’s charge, per se.” But even low expectations proved optimistic when the commission revealed its brightest idea: scrapping a federal policy that protects minority students from unfair discipline...

Most school shootings are committed by white males. That didn’t stop the commission, which includes three other Cabinet members, from recommending a rollback of guidance issued in 2014 to curb racial disparities in discipline. Black students, starting from preschool, are more often disciplined in school and receive harsher punishments than white students for comparable offenses. The 2014 guidance — which on Friday was formally rescinded by Ms. DeVos and acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker — properly prodded schools to examine disproportionate discipline rates for black students and reminded schools they can be held accountable for violations of federal civil rights laws.