What if part of your child’s school budget never made it to the classroom?

A single lawsuit over a student’s IEP shines a light on a problem most families never hear about. Across the country, school leaders are spending more time in courtrooms than classrooms, navigating legal battles just to keep schools running.

In one jaw-dropping case, a federal judge ordered an Illinois school district to pay $248,000 in legal fees, the equivalent of funding 17.5 students for an entire year. That is money that could have gone to teachers, services, or student support. Instead, it went straight to attorneys.

Meanwhile, districts like Shelby County, Tennessee are facing legal pressure so intense it is pulling leadership away from kids and toward survival mode.

This episode breaks down the vicious cycle where lawsuits quietly drain school resources, why it keeps happening, and what communities can do to stand behind the educators caught in the middle.

If you care about what happens to education dollars after they leave the classroom, this is a conversation you will not want to miss.

Brian breaks down the “homogeneity effect”, our brain’s tendency to lump everyone in a group together. One teacher messes up, one school fails, and suddenly people think all public schools are bad. He explains why this mental shortcut is misleading, how local challenges shape school outcomes, and why public schools are far more diverse and resilient than headlines suggest.

This episode addresses a question that public school district leaders are asking nationwide. Should public schools spend money to recruit families? Public schools were never supposed to run enrollment campaigns. But the funding model changed, family behavior changed, and doing nothing now costs more than acting.

In this episode, we unpack why outreach is no longer optional and why it is actually responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Learn the costs of inaction, the return on outreach, and how districts can justify campaigns with data and transparency.