Indiana school safety

School safety mapping laws & grants in Indiana

Yes. Indiana Code 10-21-1-10 requires every school's safety plan to put accurate building data in responders' hands, either detailed floor plans to local police and fire or critical incident digital mapping shared with police, fire, and the statewide 911 system.

Indiana law requires every school's safety plan to give first responders accurate building data: schools must either supply detailed floor plans to local law enforcement and fire, or perform critical incident digital mapping (accurate floor plans over aerial imagery, room/door/utility/AED detail, interoperable with public-safety systems) shared with police, fire, and the statewide 911 system.[1]

Why this matters in Indiana

Why Indiana schools need this now

Indiana's law already obligates all 1,917 public schools to put interoperable building data in responders' hands, so the only open question is whether yours is a stale floor plan or a verified 3D twin. The FY2027 Secured School Safety Grant closes June 30, 2026, which makes this the window to fund a single LiDAR scan that satisfies every clause of the statute and reaches police, fire, and the statewide 911 system at once.

The mandate

What Indiana law requires

Law
Indiana School Safety law (IC 10-21-1; school safety plan provisions enacted/amended via SEA 296-2022 and related acts)[1]
Statute
Ind. Code 10-21-1-10 (school safety plan requirements); definition at Ind. Code 10-21-1-1[1]
Compliance
Charter schools in operation on July 1, 2023 were required to comply with the school safety plan requirements by July 1, 2024 (per IC 10-21-1-10); the floor-plan/critical-incident-mapping requirement is an ongoing component of each school safety plan.[1]

What schools must provide: Every school corporation, charter school, and accredited nonpublic school must adopt a school safety plan that includes EITHER (a) providing a copy of floor plans for each building on school property to the law enforcement agency and fire department with jurisdiction (clearly indicating each entrance/exit, interior rooms and hallways, and the location of any hazardous materials), OR (b) conducting 'critical incidence digital mapping' for each school building and providing that mapping to the jurisdictional law enforcement agency, fire department, and the statewide 911 system. Per IC 10-21-1-1, critical incidence digital mapping must: include accurate floor plans overlaid on current aerial imagery of the building and surrounding grounds; show building structure (room labels, hallway names, room numbers, external doors, interior doors, stairwell numbers, locations of hazardous materials, key utility locations, key boxes, AEDs, trauma kits) and grounds (parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads, neighboring properties); be compatible with platforms and applications used by local, state, and federal public safety agencies; be verified for accuracy through a physical walk-through; not require the purchase of additional software for use; and be kept confidential / withheld from public disclosure.[1]

Funding

Grants that help Indiana 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.

Indiana state programs

Secured School Safety Grant (SSSG) ProgramAnnual
Funding Up to $100,000 per school per cycle (matching grant). Match required scales with size: 25% match for ADM under 1,000; 35% for ADM 1,000-2,499; 50% for ADM 2,500+. Record $27 million awarded in the most recent cycle across 494 schools; over $214 million awarded since 2014.
Public school corporations, charter schools, accredited nonpublic schools, and coalitions of school corporations. Applicants must certify a memorandum of understanding with a community mental health center (IC 10-21-1-5(d)) and that a site vulnerability assessment has been conducted for each building (IC 10-21-1-5(c)); must be an active/registered supplier in good standing with the State of Indiana.
Deadline: Annual cycle administered by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. FY2027 application window: applications due June 30, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET (FY2026 cycle closed June 30, 2025).[2]

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

Indiana's statute even spells out the deliverable: floor plans over aerial imagery, room and door and utility detail, interoperable with public-safety systems, walk-through verified, and requiring no new software to purchase. A LiDAR-scanned 3D digital twin satisfies every clause and pairs naturally with the Secured School Safety Grant. 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

Indiana school safety, answered

Does Indiana require school safety mapping?
Yes. Indiana Code 10-21-1-10 requires every school's safety plan to put accurate building data in responders' hands, either detailed floor plans to local police and fire or critical incident digital mapping shared with police, fire, and the statewide 911 system. Indiana law requires every school's safety plan to give first responders accurate building data: schools must either supply detailed floor plans to local law enforcement and fire, or perform critical incident digital mapping (accurate floor plans over aerial imagery, room/door/utility/AED detail, interoperable with public-safety systems) shared with police, fire, and the statewide 911 system.
What does Indiana School Safety law (IC 10-21-1; school safety plan provisions enacted/amended via SEA 296-2022 and related acts) require?
Every school corporation, charter school, and accredited nonpublic school must adopt a school safety plan that includes EITHER (a) providing a copy of floor plans for each building on school property to the law enforcement agency and fire department with jurisdiction (clearly indicating each entrance/exit, interior rooms and hallways, and the location of any hazardous materials), OR (b) conducting 'critical incidence digital mapping' for each school building and providing that mapping to the jurisdictional law enforcement agency, fire department, and the statewide 911 system. Per IC 10-21-1-1, critical incidence digital mapping must: include accurate floor plans overlaid on current aerial imagery of the building and surrounding grounds; show building structure (room labels, hallway names, room numbers, external doors, interior doors, stairwell numbers, locations of hazardous materials, key utility locations, key boxes, AEDs, trauma kits) and grounds (parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads, neighboring properties); be compatible with platforms and applications used by local, state, and federal public safety agencies; be verified for accuracy through a physical walk-through; not require the purchase of additional software for use; and be kept confidential / withheld from public disclosure.
When must Indiana schools comply?
Charter schools in operation on July 1, 2023 were required to comply with the school safety plan requirements by July 1, 2024 (per IC 10-21-1-10); the floor-plan/critical-incident-mapping requirement is an ongoing component of each school safety plan. Indiana School Safety law (IC 10-21-1; school safety plan provisions enacted/amended via SEA 296-2022 and related acts). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.
What grants help Indiana schools pay for safety mapping?
Indiana districts may be eligible for programs including Secured School Safety Grant (SSSG) Program, 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. 2024 Indiana Code, IC 10-21-1-10 (School Safety Plan; Requirements) via Justia verified 2026-06-23
  2. Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) - Secured School Safety Grant Program 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 Midwest region compares on school safety mapping.

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