Schools receiving funds for emergency communications would need real-time links to local police

A school district or charter school that gets state or local police money for interoperable communications would have to set up and keep systems that connect it with local police. This applies to school districts and charter schools that receive money from the state or a local law enforcement agency for interoperable communications. The systems must let school staff alert police in real time to an emergency, send current campus maps and building floor plans to police in a printable format, and talk with police in real time during an emergency. Each year, schools that set up these systems must send the department an affidavit saying they keep the systems, sent the maps and floor plans, and tested each system with local police in the past year. Affidavits are due July 1, 2027, and July 1 of each year after that.

The department would write guidelines and best practices for schools, and would report each year on statewide readiness. The report goes to the Governor, the Senate president, and the House speaker, with a copy to the secretary of state. The report is based on the affidavits schools submit.

A local law enforcement agency that has money for school communications systems would have to tell schools in its area and offer them money. This applies to local law enforcement agencies and the school districts and charter schools in their jurisdictions. If the agency does not have enough money for every school, it must pick schools it can fund, notify them, and offer the money. If a selected school declines, the agency must pick another school in its area that it can fund.