California school safety

School safety mapping laws & grants in California

Not yet, and that is exactly the window worth acting in. California has no enacted school-mapping requirement: AB 598's voluntary grant program passed the Assembly in 2025 but stalled in Senate Appropriations, so districts that map now move before any rush.

California does NOT currently mandate digital school-safety / critical-incident mapping for first responders. A bill to create a VOLUNTARY, grant-funded School Mapping Data Grant Program (AB 598) passed the Assembly 79-0 in June 2025 but stalled in Senate Appropriations (held under submission, Aug 29, 2025) and has not become law; an earlier version (AB 2816) died in 2024.[1]

Why this matters in California

Why California schools need this now

With 10,326 public schools across 2,108 districts, California is the largest unmapped opportunity in the country, and Sacramento has signaled twice that it wants this done. AB 598 cleared the Assembly before stalling, which means the standard is written but no district is compelled to wait for funding that may never appropriate. Mapping now puts you ahead of every other district when the program does land.

Proposed legislation

What California is proposing

Law
School Mapping Data Grant Program (AB 598, 2025-2026; prior AB 2816, 2023-2024)[1]
Statute
AB 598 (2025-26 Reg. Sess.), Gipson - would add Article to the Education Code establishing the School Mapping Data Grant Program (not yet chaptered). Predecessor AB 2816 (2023-24) failed.[2]
Compliance
None. No mandate and no compliance deadline exist. The program is proposed only and not yet funded or enacted.[2]

What the bill would require: As proposed, the program would be a VOLUNTARY grant (not a mandate). The Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) would provide one-time grants to participating school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to contract with qualified vendors for 'school mapping data.' The data must: (1) be verified for accuracy through a vendor walk-through of the school's buildings and grounds; (2) include accurate floor plans overlaid on current aerial imagery with site-specific labeling of buildings, rooms, hallways, doors, utilities, hazards and critical infrastructure; (3) use gridded x/y coordinates oriented to true north; (4) be viewable within software platforms used by public safety agencies AND within the school's own security software platforms without additional software purchases or fees; and (5) be available in both printable and digital file formats with perpetual, cost-free access for public safety agencies. There is NO mandate compelling schools to provide this data and NO compliance deadline. Implementation is contingent on a future legislative appropriation ('This article shall only be implemented upon appropriation by the Legislature').[2]

Funding

Grants that help California 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.

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[3]
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[4]

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

Districts ahead of AB 598 are building to the standard the bill already describes: walk-through-verified floor plans on current aerial imagery, true-north gridding, and viewability inside the platforms public safety agencies already run. Ark's single-day LiDAR and drone scan delivers a live 3D digital twin that meets that bar without a separate software purchase. 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

California school safety, answered

Does California require school safety mapping?
Not yet, and that is exactly the window worth acting in. California has no enacted school-mapping requirement: AB 598's voluntary grant program passed the Assembly in 2025 but stalled in Senate Appropriations, so districts that map now move before any rush. California does NOT currently mandate digital school-safety / critical-incident mapping for first responders. A bill to create a VOLUNTARY, grant-funded School Mapping Data Grant Program (AB 598) passed the Assembly 79-0 in June 2025 but stalled in Senate Appropriations (held under submission, Aug 29, 2025) and has not become law; an earlier version (AB 2816) died in 2024.
What does School Mapping Data Grant Program (AB 598, 2025-2026; prior AB 2816, 2023-2024) require?
As proposed, the program would be a VOLUNTARY grant (not a mandate). The Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) would provide one-time grants to participating school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to contract with qualified vendors for 'school mapping data.' The data must: (1) be verified for accuracy through a vendor walk-through of the school's buildings and grounds; (2) include accurate floor plans overlaid on current aerial imagery with site-specific labeling of buildings, rooms, hallways, doors, utilities, hazards and critical infrastructure; (3) use gridded x/y coordinates oriented to true north; (4) be viewable within software platforms used by public safety agencies AND within the school's own security software platforms without additional software purchases or fees; and (5) be available in both printable and digital file formats with perpetual, cost-free access for public safety agencies. There is NO mandate compelling schools to provide this data and NO compliance deadline. Implementation is contingent on a future legislative appropriation ('This article shall only be implemented upon appropriation by the Legislature').
When must California schools comply?
None. No mandate and no compliance deadline exist. The program is proposed only and not yet funded or enacted. School Mapping Data Grant Program (AB 598, 2025-2026; prior AB 2816, 2023-2024). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.
What grants help California schools pay for safety mapping?
California districts may be eligible for programs including 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. California Digital Democracy (CalMatters) - AB 598 bill record verified 2026-06-23
  2. California Digital Democracy (CalMatters) - AB 598 bill record verified 2026-06-23
  3. COPS Office - School Violence Prevention Program (official program page) verified 2026-06-23
  4. 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 West region compares on school safety mapping.

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