Educators around the country have organized to end police presence in schools and reallocate the funding towards support staff and student safety programs. School resource officers have been a permanent fixture in US schools since 1953 (Mbekeani-Wiley 2017). Despite evidence showing that these officers’ presence did not improve school safety, by 1997, approximately 9,446 SROs were assigned to schools throughout the country, particularly in urban districts (Mbekeani-Wiley 2017). Research shows that police officers’ presence in school increases the likelihood that a student will be referred to law enforcement for “adolescent behavior” (Mbekeani-Wiley 2017). School-based arrests, which fall more harshly on students of color, put students in direct contact with the justice system, establishing a school-to-prison nexus (Theriot 2009). 

The Chicago public school system has seen growth in police use in schools over the last several decades. According to a 2017 study by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Black children in Chicago Public Schools accounted for more than 60% of law enforcement referrals and school-related arrests, despite being only 40% of the student population (Devereaux 2020). The city’s 2020 budget overview revealed that Chicago spends about $33 million to fund officers in CPS schools (Parella-Aureli). Currently, 72 out of 93 CPS high schools have school resources officers (Parella-Aureli 2020). The presence of these officers, and the lack of support staff for students, negatively impacts both students and educators. The Chicago Teachers’ Union has taken an active stance against police presence in schools, and in two recent movements, has demanded a reallocation of funding towards student support resources.  

Image: Masterson, M. (2020, June 5). Lightfoot Rules Out Removing Police Officers from Chicago Schools. WTTW News. https://news.wttw.com/2020/06/05/lightfoot-rules-out-removing-police-officers-chicago-schools.