Top 10 Risks Facing K-12 Schools

Two new reports from United Educators (UE) highlight the top self-reported risks facing K-12 schools and colleges and universities.

UE is an organization that helps educational institutions identify, prevent, respond to, and recover from risks. It provides liability insurance and risk management services to nearly 1,300 members representing thousands of schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States, according to its website. Founded as a risk retention group in 1987, UE is owned and governed by the educational institutions it insures.

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Each year, UE members share their institution’s most pressing risks in the Top Risks Survey. The 2025 annual surveys, completed between May and Oct. 2025, include member responses from 214 independent and charter K-12 schools and 267 colleges and universities.

The 2025 reports reveal the top risks across the UE membership and notes changes over the last several years. UE’s reports also offers resources for each risk as well as suggestions for mitigating the risks.

This article breaks down the top 10 self-reported risks for K-12 schools. The breakdown for colleges and universities can be found here.

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Top 10 Risks Facing K-12 Schools

Each risk below includes the percentage of respondents who said it was considered a top risk for their campus, and each respondent provided their top five risks. Here are the top 10 risks from 2025:

1. Admissions and Retention (53%)
2. Public Safety (34%)
3. Operational Pressures (30%)
4. Facilities and Deferred Maintenance (26%)
5. Data Security/Cybersecurity (25%)
6. Student Mental Health (21%)
7. Vehicular Accidents (20%)
8. Recruitment and Hiring (19%)
9. Protecting Minors (17%)
10. Employee Misconduct (14%)

Overall, the K-12 risk landscape is stable, the researchers say, noting nine of the top 10 risks in 2025 match those in the top 10 of last year’s report. Below is a chart to show how the ranking has changed over the last five years.

K-12 Risk Findings

Here are some of the key findings researchers pulled from the results that are related to campus safety/security:

• Three top-10 risks — Public Safety, Facilities and Deferred Maintenance, and Vehicular Accidents saw higher response rates than in 2024, with Public Safety rising the most (up 6%).
  • UE resources for addressing public safety:
    • Campus Violence Risk Management Resource Collection
    • Targeted Campus Violence: Recognize the Warning Signs
    • Checklist: Physical Security
    • Checklist: Implementing Student Threat Assessment
    • Tabletop Exercise Library
    • Checklist: Preventing and Preparing for School Shootings
  • UE resources for addressing facilities and deferred maintenance:
    • Slips and Falls Resource Collection
    • Playground Safety: Keep Children Safe and Protect Your School
    • Climate Change Requires Reevaluating Tree Maintenance Plans
    • Good Signage = Good Risk Management
    • Take Care During Campus Repairs and Construction
  • UE resources for addressing vehicular accidents:
    • Transportation Resource Collection
    • Transportation Safety Course Collection
    • Checklist: Safety in Student and Employee Transportation
    • Campus Parking Lots: Common But Risky Locations
    • Create Electric Scooter Policies
• Employee Misconduct made the top 10 for the first time. Here are UE resources for addressing employee misconduct:
  • Workforce Management Resource Collection
  • How to Implement Employee Harassment Prevention Training
  • Properly Documenting Employee Disciplinary Actions
  • Address Workplace Bullying
  • Identify Barriers to Completing Mandatory Employee Training
  • Background Check Fundamentals
• Student Mental Health remains consistent as a top risk since its introduction to the survey in 2022. Here are some UE resources for addressing student mental health:
  • Student Mental Health Resource Collection
  • Suicide Prevention Training
  • Alcohol and Drug Awareness Course Collection for K-12 Schools
  • Tabletop Exercise Library
  • Evaluating Your Mental Health Policies: A Series of Checklists
  • Bullying: Lessons to Combat Cruelty

For additional resources on risk management, visit campussafetymagazine.com/tag/riskmanagement/.