CoSN Launches Campaign Advocating for Congressional Support for K-12 Cybersecurity
CoSN, the professional association for K-12 ed tech leaders, has launched a national advocacy campaign urging Congress to maintain federal support for cybersecurity assistance in K-12 education. The campaign will coordinate outreach through e-mails, phone calls, letters, and social media, and includes a web form that stakeholders can use to submit a statement of concern to their members of Congress.
"Recent actions by the Trump Administration have eliminated key funding for school-focused cybersecurity initiatives through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) β including support from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) β while also cutting staff at the Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology," CoSN said in a news announcement. "These actions strip away critical resources that help schools defend against ransomware and other cyber threats."
The form automatically populates with the sender's Congressional representatives based on home address, outlines the cybersecurity challenges that schools and districts will face without federal support, and urges Congress to:
- Restore funding for CISA's K-12 cybersecurity technical support, including MS-ISAC's full range of cybersecurity services;
- Reinstate the statutorily required Office of Educational Technology staff to provide continued ed tech leadership and support, including cybersecurity assistance; and
- Increase federal investments in cybersecurity initiatives supporting schools, especially those in rural or underfunded communities.
"This is not a partisan issue β it's about protecting students and keeping classrooms safe," commented CoSN CEO Keith Krueger, in a statement. "Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting schools, forcing districts to make difficult decisions and putting students' learning and data at risk. We need Congress to act now to ensure schools have the resources they need to stay safe."
For more information, visit the CoSN site.
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Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].