The Costs of School Policing

While public schools face ongoing funding challenges, resources are being allocated to School Resource Officers (SROs) to respond to anti‐​social behavior. Though reactive measures are important to have in place, employing police to respond to misbehavior is not only costly, it does not provide a long‐​term solution to school climate issues.SROs are sworn law enforcement officers stationed in public schools, serving as first responders, mentors, and informal counselors. Research suggests their presence leads to increased out‐​of‐​school suspensions and arrests, affecting students of color, males, and those with disabilities at higher rates. Despite evidence highlighting the drawbacks of police in schools, their presence in public schools has been steadily increasing.The State of SRO SpendingAccording to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 4.3 percent of SRO program funding came from federal grants, 78.6 percent from school districts, and 10.2 percent from state or local grants, as well as taxes. Since the Columbine High School shooting tragedy in 1999, an estimated $1 billion has been distributed by the federal government, and $965 million in state funding. The US Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office currently distributes grant money to police agencies to help fund SRO programs. States spending more per pupil on SROs tend to spend less on counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists.Proposed Additional FundingIn the 2023–24 legislative session, the Strengthening School Safety for Security Act was introduced, which would penalize states by withholding federal education funds if they did not possess two SROs per 500 students in each elementary and high school. The act would allocate $28 billion over four years. Another bill, the Safe Schools Act, would distribute funds originally intended for COVID-19 relief to hire SROs and add other security measures.Given the limited, mixed research on SROs, and literature suggesting they largely respond to non‐​deadly crimes, there is concern that school policing over‐​criminalizes trivial misbehavior that could be handled by schools. Constitutionally, the federal government has no authority to intervene in education, and it should especially avoid funneling unprecedented dollars to programs that do not produce a net benefit.It is also unclear if anti‐​social behavior in schools calls for large increases in law enforcement. A common justification for employing SROs is to respond to violent fights, yet data suggest fighting in high schools, where SROs are most concentrated, has shown a declining trend since 1993.