— In Pennsylvania, private schools across the state are receiving grants for school safety.  “The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recently approved the 2025-26 Targeted School Safety Grants for Nonpublic Schools.”  Policy makers say that “the program allows schools to address school violence, bolster security, and support student mental health.”

— In Florida, “the Florida Department of Education is directing school districts to add artificial intelligence use to their internet safety policies.”  “The rule development workshop will be held June 22.”

— In California, “a majority of Pajaro Middle School teachers say they have no confidence in (the) Principal,,.. alleging she failed to keep the school safe by not following safety and disciplinary protocols.”  “Staff had grown increasingly concerned with a lack of a safe learning environment for students where there weren’t appropriate consequences for things like fights on campus.” “Instead just solely relying on things like community circles or restorative practices without following through on actual discipline.”

— In Virginia, officials in the Newport News Public Schools are implementing safety upgrades to their campuses.  The upgrades “include weapon detection systems, clear backpack requirements, expanded security staffing, and stricter visitor access procedures.”  The new policies are viewed as a response to a “ 2024 grand jury report (that) found multiple safety concerns and administrative failures leading up to (a) shooting, in which first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner was shot by a 6-year-old student who brought a gun to school.

— In Missouri, the legislature is considering adding armed “Missouri Rangers” to school campuses to enhance student safety.  House Bill 905 would “allow schools to hire volunteer or paid guards called “Missouri Rangers” who could carry a gun on school grounds.”  The legislation “proposes a maximum of 160 hours of training, specifying that the program must include lessons on “close quarter combat,” bomb and arson training, de-escalation among others.”

— In Delaware, the legislature is recommending a policy “that would allow trained and authorized employees to carry guns on private school property.”  Senate Bill 304 “would create an exemption within Delaware’s Safe School Zone law to allow designated “sentries” to carry a gun or projectile weapon on private school campuses under strict training and oversight requirements.”  Each person “would have to be employees of the private school and hold a valid concealed carry permit or qualifying law enforcement credentials.”

— In Kentucky, officials in the Bullitt County Public Schools are creating an in-house school police department.  They are hiring a chief of police to command the school resource officers currently deployed to its schools.  The goal is to tailor (the SRO job) to a specific type of officer … looking for the opportunity to be in schools, build relationships with students and help us make sure that we’re keeping our students and community safe.”

— In Georgia, the “Barrow County Sheriff’s Office, Board of Commissioners and Board of Education reached a new agreement for security services for the school district.  Additional school resource officers will be deployed, from 12 to 25.  The agreement also “more clearly outlines each of the three parties’ responsibilities.”

— In Texas, the “Texas Education Agency released its annual audit report on school safety and security in Texas…Around 90% of the school districts and campuses in Texas had no issues with the initial phases of security preparedness, according to the report.”

— In Florida,  the legislature enacted a law that expands the school guardian program to Florida colleges.  Under the provisions of House Bill 757 “teachers and staff will be able to carry weapons after training with the sheriff’s office. The law also requires annual security risk assessments at every campus to find safety flaws and make improvements.”

— In Oklahoma, the legislature has enacted House Bill 2979.  Called the “Talyn Bain Act,” the goal of the law is to improve safety for students “by establishing lower speed limits on certain highways near schools.”  The provisions of the law direct “the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) to create 45 mph school zones on portions of state highways upon request from a local jurisdiction, provided specific safety conditions are met. These include highways with speed limits of 65 mph or higher that run within 150 yards of a school and lack a direct exit ramp into the school zone.”

— In Texas, Senate Bill 546 has been enacted to improve school bus safety.  It’s provisions require “all public school buses to have three-point seat belts by 2029. Three-point seat belts include a shoulder belt and a lap belt, as opposed to a two-point belt, which only goes across the lap.”

— In Kentucky, “the Kentucky Education Association (KEA) is urging all Kentucky school employees, both certified and classified, to share their experiences in a safety and student behavior survey.  Following the passage and signing into law of Senate Bill 101, landmark legislation aimed at addressing assaults against educators, the KEA wants every public school teacher and school employee in Kentucky to take part in a new, anonymous School Behavior Support survey, designed to capture real-world data on school safety and student behavior.

— In Minnesota, “Democrats in the Minnesota House of Representatives voted down GOP school safety legislation (HF 3493) that included additional funding, local options for school districts to create an anonymous threat reporting system, and would let schools suspend students for longer.”

— In Tennessee, “Knox County Schools is prohibiting the use of magnetic strips on classroom doors after a criminal trespassing incident at Hardin Valley campuses earlier this month.”  Officials say “individual classrooms have been using magnetic strips to allow students access in and out of classrooms during bathroom breaks.”  Going forward, “all district facilities are equipped with automatic door locks and all doors must remain locked during the instructional day.”

— In Minnesota, the legislature is considering “HF3753/SF390 to provide $4 million to the Department of Public Safety to implement a pilot project using the technology at eight schools across the state… The technology uses a combination of cameras, radar and artificial intelligence to spot weapons like guns, even if they’re concealed in a backpack or pocket, as soon as someone carries them on campus.”

— In Kentucky, Senate Bill 101 has been enacted.  It establishes “statewide standards for how schools respond to assaults against staff, require(s) incidents to be reported to law enforcement and ensure(s) accountability in situations where reporting requirements are not followed.”  The provisions of the text of the law require that “students in grades 6 through 12 who cause or attempt to cause injury to school staff are required to be expelled for a minimum of 12 months.”

— In Virginia,  H 592 has been enacted allowing “any school employee (to) wear a panic button that they can use to alert authorities if there is an emergency that requires an immediate response like for a school shooting.”

— In Georgia, school safety legislation is moving toward the Governor’s desk that will require weapons detection systems in all public schools.  House Bill 1023 would also require every student to be checked for weapons when arriving at a public school each day.

— In Missouri, HB 3174 has been introduced to require that public and charter school employees wear a “panic alert device that allows the school employee to communicate with others inside the building and immediately contact emergency services.”  The legislation also “includes provisions for a school-wide emergency notification system, including automated strobe lights, direct connections to the intercom or public announcement system, and automated computer displays.”

— In Minnesota, a school bus safety bill sits on the Governor’s desk after passage by the legislature.  HF 4063 requires “vehicles to stop for a school bus once its red lights begin flashing, regardless of whether its stop sign arm has been fully extended.”   “It also includes language that says a bus’s flashing amber lights serve as a warning that flashing red lights are coming soon.”  The bill includes $8.4 million in grants for school districts to install stop-signal arm cameras.

— In Minnesota, several new policy proposals on school safety are being discussed in the current legislative session.  The polices would “require schools to notify a safety incident to parents, add protections for employees who report safety concerns, allow schools to remove a student who disrupted a classroom for the rest of the day plus up to another full day and require more transparency around curriculum content and requires consent for sexual education instruction.”  Legislators also intend to provide funding to non-public schools.

— In Texas, several school districts are exploring a drone safety program for their campuses.  “The drones can distract with blinding lights and loud sirens, shoot powdered bullets or even fly into a target fast enough to knock a punching dummy to the ground.”

— In Maryland, the legislature is considering a proposal that would prohibit public and nonpublic schools from “hiring or retaining” employees charged with certain crimes. That includes, crimes of “moral turpitude”, “distribution” of drugs, certain “federal” crimes and “any felony.”  House Bill 1418 would also “require schools and vendors to keep workers with those pending charges out of roles that provide direct, unsupervised access to students.”

— In Kentucky, the legislature is considering a policy that would authorize educators to wear silent panic alert systems.  “House Bill 643 would establish the framework for schools to implement wearable, silent panic alert systems for staff… that sends a signal to the local 911 and emergency responders.”

— In Georgia, the legislature is proposing a policy that “would ban high school students from using cellphones during the school day.”  House Bill 1009 “has passed the Georgia House and is headed to the state Senate for a vote… Supporters say restricting phone use would help create a more focused learning environment.”

— In Maine, officials in Boothbay are distributing body shield backpacks to classrooms in the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Central School District.  “Teachers and staff can use the bags as shields when evacuating or confronting a threat.  Boothbay police say the backpack can stop a bullet and protect someone from being stabbed.”

— In Washington, D.C., the U. S. Department of Education “released guidance to ensure that students in unsafe public schools can access safe alternatives.”  The Unsafe School Choice Option is “designed to ensure students in persistently dangerous schools are provided with an opportunity to attend a safe public elementary or secondary school, including a public charter school.”

— In Florida, the legislature has enacted a new policy expanding the scope of school safety regulations.  Senate Bill 1470 expands the state’s Guardian Program to include childcare centers.”

— In Virginia, the Loudoun County Sheriff is seeking the expansion of the school resource officer program to include the 65 elementary schools.  The Loudoun County Sheriff Strategic Plan reflects the belief that “if you have any kind of significant incident at a school, unarmed security is not going to be able to do much … They’re not part of our emergency response team, so they’re not going to know who to call, whether you need fire and rescue out there, whether you have a medical emergency, and what kind of steps that we take to notify parents.”