Half of Colorado teachers injured by students; union blames lack of funding   

Half of Colorado’s teachers have been attacked by a student, but the state union still refuses to advocate for stronger discipline. 

In its 2025-26 State of Education report, the Colorado Education Association (CEA) said half of surveyed teachers had been “physically injured by a student,” with 74% of educators also “witnessing or experiencing a student attempt to injure an adult.”

Ali DiCaro, a special education teacher, was once bitten by a kindergartener but has seen her colleagues suffer far worse.

“I’ve seen my peers get hurt. I’ve also seen many paraprofessionals I work with be injured. I had a paraprofessional who was hit in the head and was out for 24 months,” she told local media.

While school violence has always been a problem, it’s gotten decidedly worse since the pandemic.

“As the respect has gone down, we have seen the threats and violence against educators go up,” observed CEA President Kevin Vick. “Some [injuries] are severe – severe enough to be career-ending. The intensity of injury is more severe these days and the frequency is also more severe.”

The union’s conundrum is how to protect teachers without giving up its left-wing ideas about restorative justice and racial equity. As the report puts it, the union must “improve the day-to-day safety for educators without exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline.”

As in so many cases, the union’s solution is for the government to spend more money on public education.

“Colorado must invest in resources and staffing, including counselors, mental-health professionals, paraprofessionals, and smaller class sizes, to address the root causes of behavioral incidents,” CEA concludes.

However, such measures don’t get to the root of the problem.

According to the National Institute of Justice, predictors of school violence include:

• Delinquent or antisocial behavior 

• Exposure to domestic violence 

• Child abuse 

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) 

• Narcissism 

• Being rejected by peers 

Public schools and teachers’ unions often advocate for “restorative justice,” which focuses on reconciliation rather than punishment.

For example, in 2014, the Obama administration threatened school districts with federal investigations if their data showed a “disparate impact” – higher rates of discipline for minority races. Black, Native American and biracial students are significantly more likely to fight at school. Hispanic students are average, and white and Asian students are below average.

While Obama’s policy was in effect, rates of punishment – suspension and expulsion – went down, but violence increased. Indeed, though such programs sound more rehabilitative, data shows they simply allow violence to run rampant.

According to the Department of Education, those years saw a 42% increase in sexual violence.

Other evidence showed an increase in student racial and ethnic tensions, along with “widespread disorder in classrooms.”

The same data found rates of cyberbullying had doubled as students verbally and nonverbally abused teachers.