Abstract
The school-to-prison pipeline has been pushing students toward the system of mass incarceration in the United States. This study examines three California school districts that passed measures to defund their school police in 2020. While it may seem as though these districts were immediately responsive to the national uprisings against police violence and calls to dismantle the police, this study focuses on the social and political context within these communities that built the momentum for these pivotal district-level policy decisions. It examines the reallocation of these funds, highlighting not only what was dismantled, but also what can be recreated, which is core to the project of abolition itself. This study followed the movement in Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified, and Los Angeles Unified, and where they reallocated funding once they passed defunding policies. Oakland dismantled the Oakland Schools Police Department and funded licensed support services for students. Sacramento ended its contract with the Sacramento Police Department but was not successful in reallocating its funds. Los Angeles cut their police funding by one-third and spent the funds on an African-American student achievement plan. The reallocation process has been different in each district based on their own individual budgets and issues surrounding funding and collaboration. Findings demonstrate that these districts were all somewhat successful in defunding the police due to local community-based organizations, which spent decades fighting to protect marginalized students in these communities. This study shows the significant impact that community organizing can have on policy at the district level.