New Survey Results Confirm School Board Officials at High Risk of Threats and Harassment

PRESS RELEASE
May 9, 2024

Our ongoing survey on hostility towards local elected officials has been expanded to capture the experiences of school board officials for the first time, with analysis showing a high baseline of threats and harassment, particularly for minority leaders.

Princeton, NJ – In partnership with CivicPulse, Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI) is releasing the latest benchmarking report from our ongoing survey of local officials on their experiences of threats and harassment. The seventh report provides updated findings from the Q1 2024 nationally representative survey, with responses from over 400 local elected officials — as well as over 200 school board officials — putting the total number of participants across all seven survey waves at more than 2,900. 

In order to address a persistent research gap, this survey wave has added school board officials to the sampled population for the first time. While other types of local officials (e.g. state legislators, election officials) have been the focus of multiple research efforts, school board officials have remained under-examined. At a time when school board meetings have increasingly become flashpoints for backlash against local government, and as part of our effort to better understand the broader threat and harassment landscape, this expansion of the survey allows us to further investigate how hostility faced by school board officials compares with experiences reported by other local elected officials, such as mayors, council members, and county commissioners, in order to support tailored policy responses.

This research is produced as part of a joint project launched by BDI and CivicPulse in August 2022 to conduct representative national surveys of local officials on their experiences facing threats and harassment. These quarterly updates allow us to identify spikes or shifts in hostility and track important trends in threats and harassment as we enter the 2024 election cycle.

UTH Survey Over Time Q1 2024

Q1 2024 Updates

(1) Threats and harassment against school board officials are reported at a high baseline

  • Compared to local elected officials, school board officials reported similar trends in their experiences of hostility. Over the last quarter, more than one in three were insulted, more than one in six were harassed, and more than one in 12 were threatened.

  • School board officials from racial and ethnic minority communities reported statistically significantly higher levels of threats compared to other school board officials, mirroring a trend seen across local elected officials.

(2) Levels of reported hostility — including more severe experiences, such as threats and attacks — have not significantly shifted in the last three months and remain high

  • Nearly half of all surveyed officials (both local elected officials and school board officials) reported being insulted, over a third reported harassment, and one in six reported threats in any given three-month window, posing substantial challenges for the safety and wellbeing of local officials, as well as the health of local government.

Consistent Trends

(1) Women and minority elected and school board officials continue to report experiencing greater hostility compared to their counterparts

  • Across seven surveys in the last 19 months, 25% of minority officials reported threats in contrast to 18% of non-minority officials in any given three-month period — a statistically significant difference.

  • Worry about threats, harassment, and attacks is substantially higher for women relative to men: nearly one in five women officials worry about attacks on them or their family compared to one in 10 men.

  • As a result of concerns about hostility, women and minority officials are significantly less willing to participate in activities such as working on controversial topics and being in public spaces when not working.

  • Women of color serving as local officials have also reported significantly higher levels of insults, harassment, and threats compared to other officials.

    • In particular, women of color are significantly less likely to run for re-election as a result of experiencing hostility.

(2) All types of local officials who have experienced hostile events continue to report decreased willingness to participate in political processes, like seeking re-election or attending public events

  • After controlling for political party, gender, and age, experiences of at least one type of hostility while working as an elected official are linked to a statistically significant decrease in willingness to: run for a higher office, work on controversial topics, attend events in public spaces, go out in public when not working, and post on social media.

(3) Severe forms of hostility — such as harassment, threats, and attacks — continue to cut across party lines, even with the inclusion of school board officials

  • While Democrats consistently report significantly higher levels of insults, rates of severe hostility do not differ substantially by party.

Quarterly surveys from BDI and CivicPulse of municipal, county, township, and school board officials will continue in 2024.

Media Contact: Sam Jones, Communications Manager

The Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI) is a non-partisan research initiative based at Princeton University that tracks and mitigates political violence in the United States. BDI seeks to contribute to a future where thriving communities are prepared to respond in periods of risk, are empowered to address the long-term divides we face as a society, and are supported to build a pluralistic, multi-racial democracy.

CivicPulse is a non-partisan, non-profit research organization seeking to promote more effective governance in the United States through improved access to reliable data, benchmarking, and research. We accomplish this by bridging the gap between top-tier academic research in politics, governance, and public administration and the needs of elected officials, civil servants, and community stakeholders.

The survey program is conducted as part of BDI’s Understanding Threats and Harassment Against Local Officials (UTH) project, a mixed methods approach to systematically monitor the full scope of threats and harassment facing local officials across the United States. Powered by a consortium of key information and data contributors, the project aims to develop and advance a shared framework for understanding – and countering – hostile incidents targeting local officials. The project is supported by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Bipartisan Policy Center, and generous flexible support from BDI’s core funders, following essential start-up funds from the Anti-Defamation League and Stand Together Trust.