$100 Million Dollars Later: Are School Resource Officers Making North Carolina Schools Safer?
Abstract
Since 2016, North Carolina has spent over $100 million on School Resource Officer
(SRO) salaries and training. Research consistently finds SROs have little to no effect
on school safety and can contribute to over-disciplining students. A difference-in-differences
study on the effect of a 170% increase in SRO funding for North Carolina elementary
and middle schools in 2018 suggests SROs have no effect on criminal acts or short-term
suspensions but may increase the number of school-related arrests. Estimates suggest
SROs caused an increase of about 0.035 arrests (p<0.1) per 1,000 elementary and middle
school students. This translates to an additional 35 school-related arrests resulting
from SRO presence. Arrests of students with disabilities increased by 0.243 (p<0.1)
per 1,000 students, arrests of male students increased by 0.058 (p<0.1) per 1,000
students, and arrests of economically disadvantaged students increased by 0.068 (p<0.1)
per 1,000 students. Findings for these subgroups align with previous research suggesting
these students are particularly vulnerable to excessive disciplining. Lawmakers should
consider these results when deciding the best ways to increase student safety and
well-being in elementary and middle schools. Additionally, the state should require
school districts to collect SRO data at the school level to evaluate the effects of
SROs across time and decide if this investment of taxpayer dollars produces the desired
results.
Type
Master's projectDepartment
The Sanford School of Public PolicyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27356Citation
LeFebvre, Joanna (2023). $100 Million Dollars Later: Are School Resource Officers Making North Carolina Schools
Safer?. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27356.More Info
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