Link: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/decades-of-harm-new-york-schools-named-in-nearly-2000-child-sex-abuse-claims/

The numbers from The 74’s analysis are considerably higher than the 13.4 percent of cases attributed to K-12 schools in a more narrowly focused review of the New York Child Victims Act cases done by the advocacy organization Child USA. They also provide greater context to the frequently cited estimate that 1 in 10 K-12 students will be subject to sexual misconduct by an adult by the time they graduate, according to a 2014 government report and 2004 research mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.

“That’s an insane number for one period of time where a window was open,” said Kathryn Robb, director of the Children’s Justice Campaign at the advocacy organization Enough Abuse. “And how many possibly couldn’t file after the window had closed.”

Robb, who spent over a decade helping to draft and pass the New York bill, added that because so few survivors ultimately report their abuse, the tally of school-based complaints is likely a significant undercount. But the number who did come forward, she said, “allows a justified alarm to be sound[ed] for both the public—parents, grandparents, people, guardians—and also our lawmakers and leaders.”