In New York City, Carmen Fariña, head of the New York City Department of Education, restricted school suspension by principals in 2015. The Los Angeles Unified school board, responsible for educating 700,000 students, voted in 2013 to ban suspensions for "willful defiance", which had mostly been used against students from racial minorities. A year later, the same school district decided to decriminalize school discipline so that minor offenses would be referred to school staff rather than prosecuted -- the previous approach had resulted in black students being six times more likely to be arrested or given a ticket than white students. The district saw suspensions drop by 53%, and graduation rates rise by 12%.