Like Cities, Public Schools Are Overpoliced

FEATURING JUDITH BROWNE DIANIS – The Los Angeles Unified School District on Tuesday failed to come to agreement on a proposal to slash police funding in public schools by 90%. The proposal, brought by board member Monica Garcia laid out a 50% cut for next year, followed by a 75% cut the year after, and 90% the year after that. The funding freed up by police would go toward support services for Black students. But school board members did not have the appetite for such a move even though the nationwide demand to “Defund the Police” in US cities has gained political traction.

US public school budgets are often dominated by armed law enforcement officers at the expense of teachers, counselors, nurses and support staff. Advocates of defunding school police point out that while the justification for a police presence was to prevent mass shootings, in reality, police have simply replicated in school what they do on the street: criminalize and violate black and brown people.

For more information visit https://wecametolearn.com and keep an eye out for www.Policefreeschools.org.

Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of Advancement Project National Office.

**This segment was originally broadcast on June 24, 2020.