District Demographic Predictors of Anti-“CRT” and Anti-LGBTQ Disruptions

Purpose: This research quantitatively examines what predicts anti-“CRT” and anti-LGBTQ political issues and educational disruptions in US school districts. Our study builds upon prior work that finds educational disruptions to be prevalent in suburbs and adds to an existing body of literature that is largely qualitative and theoretical. Research Methods/Approach: Using a nationally representative sample of district leaders from the 2022 American School District Panel, we conducted a series of logistic regressions and a battery of robustness checks to investigate district characteristics that increase or decrease the odds of districts experiencing political issues or educational disruptions. Findings: We find (1) district affluence rather than racial composition to be a stronger predictor of actual educational disruption; (2) reduced likelihood of issues and disruptions in small school districts potentially due to the social cohesion and homogeneity in these places; and (3) educational disruptions to be happening in almost equal measure across urban, suburban, and rural areas. Implications: Our findings have implications for empirically investigating where issues and disruptions are most prevalent. Furthermore, contrary to studies that lump issues and disruptions into the same category, our research finds that the salience of issues does not always equate to organized action and disruption.