Cybersecurity is now part of day-to-day school operations. It affects classroom access, payroll, transportation, communications, student privacy, vendor relationships, and the ability of a district to recover when something goes wrong. For K-12 leaders, the challenge in 2026 is not just knowing that threats exist. The harder work is understanding what is actually connected to the district environment, which controls are working, where gaps have developed, and what needs attention first.