Lincoln School Police Referrals Drop Sharply
Parents of Lincoln secondary students should review how their school handles discipline as the district works toward a 2029 suspension goal.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Secondary Education
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Lincoln Public Schools and the Lincoln Police Department reported that school resource officer referrals to juvenile authorities fell sharply in the 2025-26 school year, to 151 from a historical average of 402 per year. The annual report was presented to the Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal Board, and it covers students across the district's secondary schools in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Why it matters
For Lincoln families, the report points to how school safety is being handled on campus, with fewer students being sent into the juvenile justice system for school-related calls. Officials framed the trend against the district's goal of reducing suspensions by 20% by 2029, which bears directly on how often a child's school day is interrupted.
Of 1,061 school-related calls in 2025-26, 151 led to juvenile referrals, against a historical average of 402 a year. Administrators initiated 58% of the referral calls and law enforcement officers initiated 7%.
The players
Lincoln Public Schools
The public school district serving Lincoln, Nebraska, which operates the secondary schools where the SRO program is based and tracks student discipline and safety data.
Lincoln Police Department
The municipal police agency that assigns school resource officers to Lincoln schools and records calls for service on campus.
Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal Board
The joint city-school body that received the annual SRO report and oversees the coordination of student safety efforts in Lincoln.
The details
School resource officers respond to calls at Lincoln Public Schools, and when a call results in a referral, the matter goes to juvenile authorities. Administrators initiated 58% of the calls that led to referrals, while law enforcement officers initiated 7%. The district's annual perception survey gathered 9,485 student responses, and 92% agreed their schools were safer because an SRO was present. Sixteen officers accumulated 3,206 combined training hours during the period.
Timeline
2018: The city and school district established an annual SRO evaluation agreement.
2025-26 school year: Referral, survey, suspension and training data were collected.
Thursday, November 5, 2026: The report was presented to the Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal Board.
2026-27 school year: Two additional relief SRO officers will be assigned for coverage.
2029: Target date for a 20% reduction in suspensions.
The Home Front
The drop in school referrals is measured against Lincoln's own historical SRO referral average of 402 per year, a long-running local baseline rather than a national one. Families tracking school discipline trends locally can use that baseline as the reference point for the 2029 suspension-reduction goal.
If your child attends a Lincoln secondary school, ask the school how its SRO program and discipline practices work and what the district's current suspension figures look like. Families who want to understand their rights around school referrals can contact the school office directly.
The takeaway
A drop in school referrals is a useful signal, but it is only one piece of how a school handles safety and discipline. Parents can ask their school for its suspension data as the district works toward its 2029 target.
What happens next
The district will assign two additional relief SRO officers for coverage in the 2026-27 school year, and the suspension-reduction goal runs through 2029.
Further reading
For more on how schools handle discipline and student support, see Secondary Education coverage across the region.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Lincoln - KLIN - 1400 AM.
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