Parents are publicly calling for more police and security at schools after the death of a student at Benjamin Franklin High School. But LAUSD’s adopted budget plan moves in the opposite direction, raising questions about what the district’s cuts will mean for campus safety.
Parents sending their children to school want to know a simple thing: Will someone be there to help if their child is in danger?
That question has become more urgent after the death of a 17-year-old student at Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park. Parents have gone public with demands for more police and security at schools, saying they want stronger protection for students.
Their demands put Los Angeles Unified in a difficult position. Families are asking for more police presence, while the district’s adopted fiscal stabilization plan calls for millions of dollars in reductions to its school police budget.
The district has a financial crisis to address. But parents want to know what those budget decisions mean for their children and whether the district can explain how it will keep schools safe with fewer dollars for police.
The school board approved millions in police-budget cuts
On June 16, the LAUSD Board of Education adopted its fiscal stabilization plan with amendments, including one from board member Kelly Gonez that called for reducing the Los Angeles School Police Department’s central budget by $3.5 million in 2026–27 and $7 million in 2027–28.
The board’s official record marks the fiscal stabilization plan as “ADOPTED AS AMENDED” and lists the police-budget reductions in the adopted amendment. Families can review the official board meeting record and amendment.
The reductions are documented. What remains unclear is how they will affect police presence at individual schools.
Will the district save money by leaving positions vacant? Will officers be laid off? Could patrols or campus assignments change? The budget amendment does not answer those questions on its own.
A reduction in a department’s budget does not automatically tell parents whether their child’s school will have fewer officers or how quickly help could arrive during an emergency.
Following the Franklin student’s death on September 30, parents and family members brought their concerns to the school board and publicly called for more police and security at campuses. Their demands reflect a fear that schools are not doing enough to protect students from violence and bullying.
At the same time, other student advocates argue that schools need more counselors, trained staff and mental-health support, not a return to more police on campus.
The debate is not new. LAUSD reduced school policing in 2020 and expanded other student-support approaches. Now, the Franklin tragedy has brought the disagreement back into public view.
The student’s death remains under investigation. In an October 8 update, the Los Angeles Police Department said detectives had not, at that preliminary stage, identified evidence establishing a connection between allegations of bullying and the death. The investigation remains active.
There is no verified evidence that the budget cuts caused the student’s death, or that a different police presence would have prevented it. The tragedy should not be used to claim either conclusion.
But parents’ questions about campus safety deserve answers.
What will the cuts mean at your child’s school?
As we covered in an earlier article, “LAUSD School Safety: Is the New System Working?”, school safety involves more than one department. Police, school staff, counselors and mental-health professionals have different roles in preventing and responding to problems.
The district needs to explain how those roles fit together as it reduces spending.
Parents deserve clear answers to practical questions:
- Will fewer officers be assigned to schools, or will the reductions be absorbed through vacancies and other savings?
- Could patrol coverage or emergency response change at any campuses?
- What support is available when a student reports bullying, a threat or a safety concern?
- How will LAUSD measure whether its safety plans are working and tell families what it finds?
The district’s School Police Department provides information about its role, but families still need a clearer explanation of how the budget reductions will be carried out and whether campus assignments will change.
LAUSD is under pressure to address its financial problems. Parents are under pressure of a different kind: trusting that their children will be safe at school.
The board has adopted a plan that reduces school police funding. Parents are publicly asking for more police and security. The district now needs to explain how it will respond to those concerns, what will change at schools and how families will know whether students are getting the protection they need.
Until those details are public, the budget figures show the direction of spending, but not the full impact on campus safety.
The question LAUSD needs to answer is straightforward: As the district cuts school police funding, what can parents expect to change at their children’s schools and what is being done to keep students safe?
