Arkansas school safety

School safety mapping laws & grants in Arkansas

Yes. Under the Safe Schools Initiative Act, every Arkansas public school must give first responders current floor plans and emergency contact information, updated every year and after any major building change. That floor-plan obligation is already live, so the only real question is whether yours is accurate enough to act on.

Arkansas law requires every public school to give first responders current campus floor plans and emergency contact information by October 1, 2021, updated annually and after major building changes, with the data exempt from public disclosure. A related statute requires panic-button systems tied into the statewide Smart911 system so schools can geo-fence campuses and push floor plans to responders during 911 calls.[1]

Why this matters in Arkansas

Why Arkansas schools need this now

Arkansas has required current floor plans in responders' hands since 2021, yet across 1,101 public schools most of those plans are static files that drift out of date the day a wall moves. With a statewide school-safety formula putting roughly $25,000 plus $19 per student behind each district, the early movers fund an accurate model now rather than discover the gap during a 911 call.

The mandate

What Arkansas law requires

Law
Safe Schools Initiative Act, as amended by Act 620 of 2021 (and related Act 648 of 2021)[1]
Statute
Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-1303 (floor plans/emergency info to first responders); related § 6-15-1302 (panic-button alert + Smart911 floor-plan management)[2]
Compliance
October 1, 2021 (initial floor-plan/emergency-info submission to first responders under § 6-15-1303); thereafter updated annually and on substantial building changes. Effective date of Act 620 of 2021: July 28, 2021.[1]

What schools must provide: Under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-1303, on or before October 1, 2021 every public school must provide current floor plans and pertinent emergency contact information to appropriate first responders, and must provide updated information annually and whenever substantial building modifications or changes are made. The information is exempt from public-records disclosure. The companion statute § 6-15-1302 (amended by Act 648 of 2021) requires a panic-button alert system that integrates with the statewide Smart911 system, which lets a school geo-fence its campus and provide and manage floor plans and other documents that automatically display to emergency responders during a 911 call (subject to funding availability). The statute specifies floor plans and emergency contact information to first responders; it does not prescribe a single interoperable digital 'critical incident mapping' data standard (data fields/format) the way some other states' mapping laws do.[1]

Funding

Grants that help Arkansas schools pay for it

Districts often combine state and federal programs to fund first-responder mapping, AI threat detection, and emergency communications. We list only currently open or recurring programs; amounts and deadlines change, so confirm each at its official source before applying.

Arkansas state programs

Arkansas DESE School Safety Grant (2025 cycle) - LEARNS Act School Safety fundingAnnual
Funding Formula: base of $25,000 per Local Education Agency (LEA, excluding administrative buildings) plus $19 per student based on October 1, 2024 enrollment. Part of the statewide ~$50 million school-safety grant funding tied to the LEARNS Act / School Safety Commission recommendations (statewide total reported by ADE/press, not stated verbatim in the 2025 memo).
Public school districts and open-enrollment public charter schools. Virtual schools are not eligible. Funds support implementation of School Safety Commission recommendations; districts must first complete Priority Approved Expenditures (categories A-L) before accessing Additional Approved Safety Expenditures (M-Z). Allowable uses include physical security and other prioritized safety measures.
Recurring program, confirm the current cycle at the source[3]

Federal programs (available nationwide)

COPS School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP)Annual
Funding FY26: up to $73,000,000 total available, awarded over a 3-year (36-month) period with at least a 25% local cash match required (waiver possible) and approximately $1,000,000 reserved for microgrants of up to $100,000 for rural, tribal, and low-resourced school districts. Confirm the current per-award cap directly on the official COPS SVPP program page before applying, as the FY26 figure is being finalized.
Coordination with law enforcement; training for school personnel and local law enforcement officers to prevent student violence against others and self; placement/use of metal detectors, locks, lighting and other deterrent measures; acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency; other Director-approved security improvements at K-12 schools and on school grounds. (This is the COPS-administered arm of the STOP School Violence Act of 2018, focused on security equipment/technology and training.) (U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office))
Deadline: FY26: Grants.gov SF-424 by Aug 4, 2026 4:59 PM ET; JustGrants by Aug 11, 2026 4:59 PM ET. Annual competitive cycle (typically opens spring/summer each fiscal year).Listing: 16.710[4]
Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence)Rolling
Funding Two tiers, both at Secretary's discretion (subject to appropriations) sized to the incident: Immediate Services (emergency short-term assistance) and Extended Services (longer recovery). No fixed published cap on the official ed.gov page; funding amounts and project periods are established case-by-case to reflect the scope of the incident and recovery needs.
Short-term education-related services to help schools/campuses recover from and respond to a violent or traumatic event and restore the learning environment (e.g., mental health/counseling support, security and safety measures during recovery, substitute staffing, overtime, communication). Qualifying events: school shootings, suicide clusters, terrorism, natural disasters, school bus accidents, student homicides, hate crimes (non-exhaustive). (U.S. Department of Education - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Safe and Supportive Schools)
Recurring program, confirm the current cycle at the sourceListing: 84.184S[5]

See full details on each federal funding program, including eligibility, deadlines, and how each can apply to responder-ready mapping.

How schools comply

From paper plans to a map responders can actually use

Most Arkansas districts meet the letter of the law with static PDFs that go stale the moment a wall moves. Ark replaces them with a live 3D digital twin built from a single-day LiDAR and drone scan, so the plan responders see always matches the building that exists today. Static PDFs go stale the moment a building changes, and they cannot be shared live with arriving units.

Ark Strategic builds a live 3D digital twin of a campus from a LiDAR and drone scan, often completed in a single day though larger campuses can take longer, with every room, exit, utility shutoff, AED, and access point labeled. Responders reach it two ways, neither of which requires anything new to install: through RapidSOS, the platform already connected to the vast majority of US 911 centers, or in any web browser, since the twin runs in the cloud. Either way, your 911 center and on-scene units see the campus inside tools they already have.

A flat floor plan tells responders where the walls are. A digital twin shows them where to go. The platform and setup are bundled into one deployment, often grant-funded, so there is no separate software line item for the district. See how the K-12 platform works.

FAQ

Arkansas school safety, answered

Does Arkansas require school safety mapping?
Yes. Under the Safe Schools Initiative Act, every Arkansas public school must give first responders current floor plans and emergency contact information, updated every year and after any major building change. That floor-plan obligation is already live, so the only real question is whether yours is accurate enough to act on. Arkansas law requires every public school to give first responders current campus floor plans and emergency contact information by October 1, 2021, updated annually and after major building changes, with the data exempt from public disclosure. A related statute requires panic-button systems tied into the statewide Smart911 system so schools can geo-fence campuses and push floor plans to responders during 911 calls.
What does Safe Schools Initiative Act, as amended by Act 620 of 2021 (and related Act 648 of 2021) require?
Under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-1303, on or before October 1, 2021 every public school must provide current floor plans and pertinent emergency contact information to appropriate first responders, and must provide updated information annually and whenever substantial building modifications or changes are made. The information is exempt from public-records disclosure. The companion statute § 6-15-1302 (amended by Act 648 of 2021) requires a panic-button alert system that integrates with the statewide Smart911 system, which lets a school geo-fence its campus and provide and manage floor plans and other documents that automatically display to emergency responders during a 911 call (subject to funding availability). The statute specifies floor plans and emergency contact information to first responders; it does not prescribe a single interoperable digital 'critical incident mapping' data standard (data fields/format) the way some other states' mapping laws do.
When must Arkansas schools comply?
October 1, 2021 (initial floor-plan/emergency-info submission to first responders under § 6-15-1303); thereafter updated annually and on substantial building changes. Effective date of Act 620 of 2021: July 28, 2021. Safe Schools Initiative Act, as amended by Act 620 of 2021 (and related Act 648 of 2021). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.
What grants help Arkansas schools pay for safety mapping?
Arkansas districts may be eligible for programs including Arkansas DESE School Safety Grant (2025 cycle) - LEARNS Act School Safety funding, COPS School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP), Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence). Eligibility, amounts, and deadlines vary by program and should be confirmed at each program's official source.
What is critical incident mapping?
Critical incident mapping is the practice of giving first responders accurate, current digital maps of a building, with rooms, exits, utility shutoffs, AEDs, and access points labeled and shareable in real time, so police, fire, and EMS can navigate an unfamiliar campus during an emergency.

New to the terms? See the school safety mapping glossary for plain-language, sourced definitions, or the national FAQ for the questions districts ask most.

Sources

Every claim, cited

We do not ask you to take our word for any of this. Each numbered citation above links to its primary government source below, with the date we last verified it. Programs and deadlines change, so confirm current rules at the source. How we verify.

  1. FindLaw - Arkansas Code Title 6 § 6-15-1303 (Safe Schools Initiative Act, 2024 code); corroborated by Justia 2024 Arkansas Code §§ 6-15-1302/1303 verified 2026-06-23
  2. FindLaw - Arkansas Code Title 6 § 6-15-1303 (Safe Schools Initiative Act, 2024 code); corroborated by Justia 2024 Arkansas Code §§ 6-15-1302/1303 verified 2026-06-23
  3. Arkansas DESE Commissioner's Memo COM-25-048 - 2025 School Safety Grant verified 2026-06-23
  4. COPS Office - School Violence Prevention Program (official program page) verified 2026-06-23
  5. U.S. Department of Education - Project SERV (official program page) verified 2026-06-23
Compare across state lines

Neighboring states

School safety mapping varies by state line. See where the states next door stand.

See how the rest of the South region compares on school safety mapping.

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