A NEW REPORT has found that the $3.2 billion school districts spent in 2023–24 on responding to political attacks was “meaningfully impacting the quality of education students received.”

According to the report, with this amount of money “it would be possible to expand the national Free Breakfast program budget by 40% [including additional funding].” Or it could be used to “hire an additional counselor or psychologist for every public high school in the United States” or “to expand access to arts or after-school programs in STEM.”

Significantly, survey authors found that the largest portion of money spent came from turnover costs of replacing staff members who left their jobs or retired early because of personal attacks or the broader demoralizing school climate.

UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA) published “The Costs of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States” in October, estimating that U.S. public schools spent $3.2 billion in the 2023–24 school year on costs stemming from concerted and coordinated attacks by extremists and privatizers.

“It is vital for educational leaders and for the broader public to work to diminish the opportunities for ‘conflict entrepreneurs’ to disrupt and distract and gain power —in school board meetings and elsewhere.”
—From “The Costs of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States”

Our union has been fighting these efforts to sow fear and division in our schools and pit communities against each other by picking on our most vulnerable students — including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students. Extremists and privatizers’ actions are part of a larger effort to erode public trust in institutions, including public education. This report now shows that in addition to costs beyond the harm done to students and educators, conflicts have resulted in loss of resources across California and the country.

The survey included questions posed to 467 school superintendents across the country about whether and how often districts have been challenged on teaching and learning about race and racism, policies protecting LGBTQ+ students, and books available to students in the school library. It also looked at the frequency with which conflict has prompted and employed misinformation, violent rhetoric and threats. Two-thirds said their districts were experiencing moderate to high levels of culturally divisive conflict that is disrupting districts, negatively impacting schools and classrooms, and needlessly costing schools millions of dollars that could better be used to serve students.

Survey responses were anonymous, but the report was referenced by the L.A. Times in a story on the Chino Valley school district, whose extremist policies have led to multiple conflicts with educators, students and community members. The Times notes that the district’s “legal costs have soared — totaling more than $1.2 million last school year, more than double the annual total in 2022. The district says that the Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, a conservative legal firm, is representing it for free in its legal battles with the state.”

The UCLA report concludes that “it is vital for educational leaders and for the broader public to work to diminish the opportunities for ‘conflict entrepreneurs’ to disrupt and distract and gain power — in school board meetings and elsewhere.” The substantial money saved means education funding could be used for its intended purpose — educating and nurturing our students.

Read the report at idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/costs-of-conflict/.