Tag as many schoolchildren as possible with criminal records.

That appears to be Virginia’s new method to ensure that it can keep its expensive prisons full in the years to come.

Across the state, schools are bringing police officers on their grounds and giving them license to arrest students for childish behavior that principals and teachers used to deal with.

The upshot: Thousands of students are landing in juvenile courts to be treated like criminals.

We agree with critics that this approach only builds up the “school to prison” pipeline.

The evidence of what is happening can be found in the data the private Center for Public Integrity mined from the U.S. Department of Education’s files and recently brought to public attention through an article published in TIME magazine.

It is appalling that Virginia leads the nation is what is politely described as “student referrals to police.” Nationally, six students per 1,000 are “referred,” based on data from 2011, the most recent available, the center’s study found.

Our state shamefully averaged 16 students per 1,000 being referred to police and courts. It should come as no surprise that the statistics the center generated show that black and mentally disabled students bear the brunt of the aggressive policing playing out in the hallways of our schools.

Across Virginia, 13 white students per 1,000 were referred, well above the national average, the study found. The number surged to 25 black students per 1,000 and to 33 disabled students per 1,000 being taken to court by school-based officers. Those are shocking statistics.

The situation is most serious in Virginia’s middle schools that serve students ages 11 to 14, the study found. The worst example cited: Falling Creek Middle School in Chesterfield County. At that school, 228 students per 1,000 were referred to police in the 2011-12 school year, the center reported.

Let’s be clear — schools can have a problem with discipline. Every year, a few students are caught with weapons in schools. Some are caught with drugs and alcohol in the their lockers or on their person. Far more students bring anger issues or neighborhood feuds into classrooms, creating problems.

But is arrest the right choice when a student acts out? Should kicking a trash can be considered a criminal offense — as it has become in too many schools?

The center’s findings raise serious questions about whether principals, teachers and counselors are abandoning their roles as disciplinarians and mentors in favor of letting school resource officers, as police in schools are known, and courts handle problem children.

According to the center, students are quietly being referred to juvenile courts on charges that defy belief.

Take the case of an 11-year-old autistic child in Lynchburg. First, a school police officer charged the sixth-grader with disorderly conduct and took him to court for throwing a tantrum and kicking a wastebasket.

A week later, the same officer handcuffed and charged the same child with felony resisting arrest after the youngster struggled when the officer put him in a bear hug.

A juvenile court judge upheld the charges, which are now on appeal.

Similar examples can be found across the commonwealth. Disorderly conduct is a favorite charge among school resource officers, the study found.

We need to call a halt to the police mentality that is pervading our schools.

We have to stop this effort to make police and courts the first line of discipline, instead of a last resort.

We don’t have to condone misbehavior to find better ways to correct it.