IT Infrastructure & Management

Cybersecurity Demands Are Growing. Funding Isn’t Keeping Pace

By Alyson Klein — September 11, 2024 2 min read
Dollar Sign Made of Circuit Board on Motherboard and CPU.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

State education leaders worry funding for cybersecurity isn’t keeping pace with the worsening problem of attacks on schools, according to a survey released Sept. 11 by the State Educational Technology Directors Association.

Schools are hit more by cyberattacks than hospitals, local governments, and other public sector targets, according to a January report from the antivirus software company Emsisoft that is cited in SETDA’s report.

Some educators fear that the rise of artificial intelligence, which relies on datasets that may include student and staff personal information, could compound the problem, the report said.

States aren’t providing enough funding to address the problem, state ed-tech leaders said. Specifically, the percentage of state leaders who believe their state provides “sufficient” funds to support cybersecurity efforts in schools dropped from 19 percent in last year’s annual survey to 8 percent this year. The survey, which was conducted beginning in May, included responses from more than 80 state ed-tech directors, state chiefs, and chief information officers from 46 states.

What’s more, the percentage of respondents reporting that their state provides “only a small amount of funding for cybersecurity” more than doubled, from 15 percent last year to 33 percent this year.

That doesn’t necessarily mean states are providing less money for cybersecurity, the report said. Instead, “it may simply reflect shifting perceptions of how much it costs to keep up with the escalating threats school systems face,” the report said. “In other words, last year’s ‘ample funding’ might be this year’s ‘insufficient funding.’”

States are also puzzling through how they can be most effective in helping districts ward off attacks, Julia Fallon, the executive director of SETDA, said in an interview.

“I think states are trying to figure out what their role is [to] help districts,” Fallon said. “Some districts are large enough to have a cybersecurity staff, while smaller districts may not. So what’s the state’s role?”

Connecticut, for instance, bought software to ward off a specific type of attack for districts in the entire state, she said.

“That’s [one] funding model,” Falllon said. “They’re taking care of that, so it doesn’t then [fall to] schools.”

See Also

Image of students taking a test.
smolaw11/iStock/Getty

A new federal grant program may help make up for some of the funding gap, at least at the district level.

The Federal Communications Commission has launched a $200 million, three-year pilot project to help cover the cost of cybersecurity services at schools and libraries.

Schools and school districts will be eligible to receive up to $13.60 per student annually to help cover the cost of certain cybersecurity services and equipment. Grants for schools and districts can range from $15,000 to $1.5 million. Applications will open on Sept. 17 and close on Nov. 1.

Even though $200 million won’t be enough to address all of districts’ cybersecurity problems, SETDA is encouraging districts to apply for the program.

A flood of district applications will make it clear that there’s “a demand for the funding,” Fallon said, as well as giving policymakers more information about how to structure a broader, more permanent cybersecurity program.

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
(Re)Focus on Dyslexia: Moving Beyond Diagnosis & Toward Transformation
Move beyond dyslexia diagnoses & focus on effective literacy instruction for ALL students. Join us to learn research-based strategies that benefit learners in PreK-8.
Content provided by EPS Learning
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Cohesive Instruction, Connected Schools: Scale Excellence District-Wide with the Right Technology
Ensure all students receive high-quality instruction with a cohesive educational framework. Learn how to empower teachers and leverage technology.
Content provided by Instructure
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
How to Use Data to Combat Bullying and Enhance School Safety
Join our webinar to learn how data can help identify bullying, implement effective interventions, & foster student well-being.
Content provided by Panorama Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

IT Infrastructure & Management What Districts Can Do With All Those Old Chromebooks
The Chromebooks and tablets districts bought en masse early in the pandemic are approaching the end of their useful lives.
3 min read
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made, April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. While many teachers nationally complain their districts dictate textbooks and course work, the South Florida school's administrators allow their staff high levels of classroom creativity...and it works.
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made on April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. After districts equipped every student with a device early in the pandemic, they now face the challenge of recycling or disposing of the technology responsibly.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
IT Infrastructure & Management Los Angeles Unified's AI Meltdown: 5 Ways Districts Can Avoid the Same Mistakes
The district didn't clearly define the problem it was trying to fix with AI, experts say. Instead, it bought into the hype.
10 min read
Image of the complexities of Artificial Intelligence.
Kotryna Zukauskaite for Education Week
IT Infrastructure & Management Aging Chromebooks End Up in the Landfill. Is There an Alternative?
Districts loaded up on devices during the pandemic. What becomes of them as they reach the end of their useful lives?
5 min read
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020.
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after-school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020. Districts that acquired devices for every student for the first time during the pandemic are facing decisions about what to do at the end of the devices' useful life.
Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP
IT Infrastructure & Management Schools Can't Evaluate All Those Ed-Tech Products. Help Is on the Way
Many districts don't have the time or expertise to carefully evaluate the array of ed-tech tools on the market.
2 min read
PC tablet with cloud of application icons floating from off the screen.
iStock/Getty