1. Burbio maintains a database of district checkbook registers covering over 20 million PreK-12 students which allows for market penetration analysis for industry suppliers. The charts below compare the percentage of districts in two different regions of the US that have written a check to the supplier in question at least once in the twelve months ending February 28th. In the chart below, we show suppliers that have higher market penetrations in the Northeast than in the South:
The Northeast covers all of New England, plus New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The South covers Virginia south to Florida, plus West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
At the bottom of this email we present a second chart with suppliers that have higher penetration in the South than the Northeast
2. Burbio's K-12 Construction Tracker provides an end-to-end view of school construction and renovation, from early-stage discussions to final fit-out. Our "facility type" filter allows for easy identification of specific construction initiatives like Athletic facilities. Below are some examples of early-phase projects:
- The Athletic Director for Downingtown Area School District, PA, recently made the case for building a second turf field, citing unusable fields due to weather, scheduling "nightmares," and community demand.
- In Vestal Central School District, NY, the Capital Project Committee is discussing the need to replace the sixty-year-old pool at the high school, which requires "significant repair."
- Dinuba Unified School District, CA, retained an engineering firm to provide master planning and surveying services for the outdoor athletic facilities at the new high school.
- North Little Rock School District, AR, recently retained a construction manager for an $18 million indoor sports facility.
- Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA, recently approved their 5-year, $700 million capital improvement plan, which includes $17 million for a high school gym renovation starting in 2030.
- Linn-Mar Community School District, IA, is designing a high school indoor activity space including a weight room, wrestling room, locker room, and gym renovation.
3. Burbio’s Signals Tracker analyzes millions of pages of district school board discussions and delivers clients highly specific insights on district intent. Cybersecurity comes up in board discussions regularly. Here are some of the top fears cited by districts related to cyber vulnerabilities:
- Human Error and Staff Behavior, especially weak password practices and phishing, spoofing, and smishing attacks.
- Financial Fraud and Ransomware leading many to strengthen incident response planning and conduct tabletop exercises.
- Student Data Privacy and Identity Theft is a top concern, particularly when evaluating third-party vendors and platforms for compliance with student privacy laws.
- Aging and Unsupported Technology create major security vulnerabilities because they no longer receive critical patches and updates.
- Emerging AI and Digital Threats such as deepfakes, hacking, and the security of rapidly adopted classroom AI tools.
Here are some of the tactics we see being deployed by districts:
- Adoption of Cybersecurity Frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and CIS Controls, often to comply with new state requirements
- Security Infrastructure Upgrades: Investments in EDR/MDR services, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and next-generation firewalls
- Staff Training and Phishing Prevention through mandatory cybersecurity training
- Student Cybersecurity Education such as digital citizenship, online safety, and cybersecurity courses
- Districts are pursuing cyber insurance and grant funding while strengthening vendor vetting and data privacy compliance
- Regular vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and third-party IT security audits to identify weaknesses proactively
4. We continue our analysis of market penetration. Below is a list of vendors with higher penetration in the South for the twelve-month period ending in February: