Education
K-12 and higher education, in our voice. Every factual claim below is linked. The cards are the industry reads for these two verticals.
Schools and colleges buy connectivity, voice, managed networks, and AI tools under different rules and the same operational risks: a shared platform goes down, a discount changes, or a vendor changes hands. This page collects the K-12 and higher-education items from From the industry, plus the staff articles on each side. Reviewed November 3, 2026.
K-12
Challenges
K-12 Dive reported a Center for Internet Security survey of schools and districts:
“Slightly over half of schools or districts said they grappled with a cybersecurity incident in the last year.”
K-12 Dive, on the Center for Internet Security report.
The same article says about a third reported an incident that affected school operations, and that 87% of school leaders reported phishing or email compromises among the top incidents. It also says 56% described cybersecurity programs as underfunded, and 70% said they had delayed projects, technology investments, or staffing because of budget.
K-12 Dive reports district leaders warning that losing E-rate would leave large gaps in connectivity budgets. K-12 Dive reports that CISA released free guides while schools face high risk and limited resources.
What is working, and what to ask next
That same survey account calls out a control already in wide use: 83% reported multi-factor authentication. K-12 Dive reports teachers who use AI say it frees time with students, while training has not kept up. TechTarget reports that AI moving into instruction raises evidence, data protection, and contract questions before a district scales it.
Staff articles: connectivity and E-rate and cyber readiness without adding people.
Newest first
K-12
Cybersecurity incidents hit over 50% of schools and districts in past year
K-12 Dive · Anna Merod · Oct 27, 2026
Topic: Falling behind on technology
More than half of schools and districts reported a cyber incident last year.
Read at K-12 Dive
K-12
Educators who use AI say it frees up time to interact with students
K-12 Dive · Naaz Modan · Oct 16, 2026
Topic: AI
Teachers say AI frees time with students, but training has not kept up.
Read at K-12 Dive
K-12
Ending E-rate would deal financial blow to schools, district leaders say
K-12 Dive · Anna Merod · Oct 13, 2026
Topic: Networks and connectivity
District leaders say losing E-rate would open large gaps in connectivity budgets.
Read at K-12 Dive
K-12
AI teaching systems raise new questions for school districts
TechTarget · Kinza Yasar · Oct 7, 2026
Topic: Challenges and successes
AI in the classroom also raises privacy, evidence, and contract questions.
Read at TechTarget
K-12
CISA issues K-12 cybersecurity guidance as schools' risks persist
K-12 Dive · Anna Merod · Aug 14, 2026
Topic: Networks and connectivity
CISA's free guides give districts a baseline for networks and security controls.
Read at K-12 Dive
Colleges and universities
Challenges
Government Technology reports campus leaders treating vendor risk as institutional risk after attacks on widely used learning and ERP platforms. One vendor's weakness can become a campus-wide outage, so breach-notification terms belong in the contract.
Government Technology reports that AI's need for clean data is exposing long-standing gaps in ownership, quality, and access.
What leaders are organizing around
Inside Higher Ed reports campus technology leaders ranking where AI adds value, and future-proofing students, as top issues. Government Technology reports unpredictable budgets, vendor pricing, and proving AI's value as the pressures pushing campuses toward infrastructure with a predictable cost and a named owner.
Staff articles: when a campus platform changes hands and where to point AI first.
Newest first
Higher ed
EDUCAUSE '26: Colleges Need to Treat Vendor Risk as Institutional Risk
Government Technology · Abby Sourwine · Oct 8, 2026
Topic: Falling behind on technology
One vendor outage can take a campus down, so breach terms belong in the contract.
Read at Government Technology
Higher ed
EDUCAUSE '26: AI Exposes Gaps in Data Governance
Government Technology · Abby Sourwine · Oct 7, 2026
Topic: AI
AI pays off more where data ownership, quality, and access rules are already set.
Read at Government Technology
Higher ed
EDUCAUSE '26: Rethinking IT Infrastructure Amid Budget Uncertainty
Government Technology · Abby Sourwine · Oct 6, 2026
Topic: Challenges and successes
Campus IT wants predictable infrastructure cost and a clear owner for AI value.
Read at Government Technology
Higher ed
Higher Ed Tech Officers Navigating “Age of Perpetual Change”
Inside Higher Ed · Kathryn Palmer · Oct 5, 2026
Topic: AI
Campus leaders rank where AI adds value and future-proofing students as top issues.
Read at Inside Higher Ed
Sources
Outlet, author, and date for every item above. The note on each card is our takeaway.
K-12
- K-12 Dive, Anna Merod, “Cybersecurity incidents hit over 50% of schools and districts in past year” (Oct 27, 2026)
- K-12 Dive, Anna Merod, “Ending E-rate would deal financial blow to schools, district leaders say” (Oct 13, 2026)
- K-12 Dive, Anna Merod, “CISA issues K-12 cybersecurity guidance as schools' risks persist” (Aug 14, 2026)
- K-12 Dive, Naaz Modan, “Educators who use AI say it frees up time to interact with students” (Oct 16, 2026)
- TechTarget, Kinza Yasar, “AI teaching systems raise new questions for school districts” (Oct 7, 2026)
Higher education
- Inside Higher Ed, Kathryn Palmer, “Higher Ed Tech Officers Navigating “Age of Perpetual Change”” (Oct 5, 2026)
- Government Technology, Abby Sourwine, “EDUCAUSE '26: Colleges Need to Treat Vendor Risk as Institutional Risk” (Oct 8, 2026)
- Government Technology, Abby Sourwine, “EDUCAUSE '26: Rethinking IT Infrastructure Amid Budget Uncertainty” (Oct 6, 2026)
- Government Technology, Abby Sourwine, “EDUCAUSE '26: AI Exposes Gaps in Data Governance” (Oct 7, 2026)
Talk it through with an advisor
Connectivity, voice, managed networks, and AI for schools and campuses.