Alabama school safety

School mapping requirements & grants in Alabama

Yes. Alabama's 2024 School Security Act (SB98) created a statewide School Mapping Data Program inside ALEA, requiring walk-through-verified digital floor plans of every public school, overlaid on aerial imagery and made interoperable with first-responder software at no cost to schools.

Alabama's 2024 School Security Act (SB98) created a statewide School Mapping Data Program inside ALEA that requires accurate, walk-through-verified digital floor plans of every public school (with rooms, doors, utilities, AEDs, trauma kits, grounds and x/y grid) overlaid on aerial imagery, made interoperable with first-responder and school security software at no cost to schools or agencies.[1]

Why this matters in Alabama

Why do Alabama schools need responder-ready maps now?

Alabama already decided this matters: with 1,524 public schools across 156 districts and the state's January 2026 mapping contracts already funded, the only open question is whether your campus is captured as a flat file or a live 3D twin a responder can move through. SB98 makes the data free to schools, so the cost of leading is essentially zero, and when seconds decide outcomes, an officer arriving at an unfamiliar building should not be reading a 2D plan.

The mandate

What does Alabama law require?

Law
Alabama School Security Act (Senate Bill 98, 2024 Regular Session)[1]
Statute
Ala. SB98 (2024 RS), Section 4 (School Mapping Data Program within ALEA); related new duties under Title 16, Chapter 1 (school emergency operations plans, Ala. Code 16-1-44); effective Oct 1, 2024[1]
Compliance
Act effective October 1, 2024 (Section 7). The mapping program is implemented as funds are appropriated and via ALEA rulemaking; ALEA contracted statewide mapping production to an outside vendor in January 2026. The statute sets no single per-school district compliance date; updates are completed as ALEA deems necessary in consultation with the State Board of Education and the applicable local board (Section 4(b)(2)).[1]

What schools must provide: Establishes a School Mapping Data Program within the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which collaborates with local boards of education to produce accurate digital mapping data for every public K-12 school (subject to appropriation). Section 4(b)(1) requires the data to include accurate floor plans of each school overlaid on current, verified aerial imagery of the campus and to: (a) be oriented true north; (b) be verified by a walk-through of school buildings and grounds; (c) contain site-specific labeling matching the building structure, including room labels, hallway names, external door/stairwell numbers, and locations of hazards, critical utility locations, key boxes, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and trauma kits; (d) contain site-specific labeling of school grounds, including parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads, and neighboring properties; and (e) be overlaid with gridded x and y coordinates. Data must be compatible with the software platforms used by local, county, state, and federal public-safety agencies that serve the school, and compatible with the school's own security software platform (Section 4(d)(1)). It must be available in printable format and, on request, in a digital format integratable into interactive mobile platforms (Section 4(d)(2)). Mapping data is provided to each local board of education, local law enforcement agency, and public-safety agency for emergency response (Section 4(c)). Section 4(e) bars requiring any entity (law enforcement, local board, or public-safety agency) to purchase additional software or pay a fee to view or access the data.[1]

The specification

What does the statute specify, clause by clause?

Alabama publishes its mapping specification in Section 4 of SB98 (2024): the program itself in Section 4(a), the five content requirements in Section 4(b)(1)a-e, distribution in Section 4(c), interoperability and format in Section 4(d), and the no-fee rule in Section 4(e). Each line below is a separate statutory subdivision, cited so you can check it against the source yourself. This is the list to hold any proposal against, ours included.[1]

  1. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(a)
    A School Mapping Data Program is established within the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to provide accurate maps of each school in the state for use in an emergency, with ALEA adopting rules to implement and administer it.
  2. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)
    ALEA collaborates with local boards of education to produce accurate mapping data for each school in the state, subject to appropriation. The data must include accurate floor plans of each school overlaid on current, verified aerial imagery of the campus, and must meet the five requirements below.
  3. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)a
    Be oriented true north.
  4. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)b
    Be verified by the entity producing the data for accuracy by a walk-through of school buildings and grounds.
  5. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)c
    Contain site-specific labeling that matches the structure of school buildings, including room labels, hallway names, external door and stairwell numbers, and the locations of hazards, critical utility locations, key boxes, automated external defibrillators, and trauma kits.
  6. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)d
    Contain site-specific labeling that matches the school grounds, including parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads, and neighboring properties.
  7. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(1)e
    Be overlaid with gridded x and y coordinates.
  8. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(b)(2)
    Updates are completed as ALEA deems necessary, in consultation with the State Board of Education and the applicable local board, and any update must be accessible within the software platforms used by the local, county, state, and federal public-safety agencies that serve the school.
  9. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(c)
    School mapping data is provided to each local board of education, local law enforcement agency, and public safety agency for use in responding to emergencies.
  10. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(d)(1)
    The data must be compatible with the software platforms used by the local, county, state, and federal public safety agencies that serve the school, and compatible with the security software platform in use by that public K-12 school.
  11. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(d)(2)
    The data must be available in a printable format and, on request by a public safety agency, local law enforcement agency, or local board of education, in a digital format that can be integrated into interactive mobile platforms in use.
  12. Ala. SB98 (2024) Sec. 4(e)
    No entity, including a law enforcement agency, local board of education, or public safety agency, may be required to purchase additional software or pay a fee to view or access school mapping data through the program.

A single LiDAR and drone capture produces one dataset that serves both the printable, labeled 2D map this specification describes and a live 3D digital twin of the same campus, so a district is not buying the compliance artifact and the operational tool twice. See the buyer-side questions to ask any provider.

Funding

What grants help Alabama schools pay for mapping?

Alabama 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.

Alabama state programs

Statewide School Mapping Data Program (ALEA-administered, state-funded mapping contracts)Annual
Funding Funded by the state at no cost to districts; Ala. Code 16-22B-4(e) bars requiring any school board, law enforcement agency or public safety agency to buy software or pay a fee to view or access the mapping data. ALEA's mapping contract, submitted to the Legislative Contract Review Committee for its January 8, 2026 meeting, is $4,193,710.00 from 100% state funds for GIS-based maps in multiple formats for every Alabama public school, with a term of January 15, 2026 through January 14, 2028. The FY 2027 Education Trust Fund budget (Act 2026-380) appropriates $2,000,000 to ALEA for School Mapping, level with FY 2026, and the FY 2026 supplemental appropriation includes $3,000,000 for school mapping within the State Department of Education's $25,000,000 School Safety line.
All Alabama public K-12 schools. ALEA produces the mapping data in collaboration with local boards of education, and it is provided to each local board, local law enforcement agency and public safety agency for emergency response (Ala. Code 16-22B-4).
Recurring program, confirm the current cycle at the source[2]
FY 2026 Supplemental School Safety Allocation to local boards (ALSDE fund source 1770)One-time
Funding A $25,000,000 School Safety line within the FY 2026 supplemental appropriation to the State Department of Education (HB235 enrolled, 2026 Regular Session), for training, services, supplies, materials and safety contracts allocated under the School Security Act (Ala. Code Title 16, Chapter 22B), including $3,000,000 for school mapping. ALSDE allocates the local-board share to each school system on a published per-system schedule.
Alabama city and county school systems and charter schools listed on the ALSDE allocation schedule. ALSDE directs that the money strengthen the security of school facilities, buses and grounds, advises against personnel costs, and lists recommended uses tied to the School Security Act criteria, including access control, security cameras, emergency notification systems, visitor management, communication equipment and software security applications.
Deadline: No application. ALSDE stated the allocations would be disbursed automatically before the start of the 2026-27 school year. All funds must be expended by September 30, 2027.[3]

Federal programs (available nationwide)

COPS School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP)Closed
Funding FY26: up to $73,000,000 total available; maximum federal share of $500,000 per award; approximately 200 awards anticipated; 36-month period of performance starting October 1, 2026. A local cash match of at least 25 percent is required unless a waiver is requested and approved. Approximately $1,000,000 was reserved for microgrants of up to $100,000 for rural, tribal, and low-resourced school districts. These are the closed FY26 figures, not a forecast for FY27.
Funds school security technology and equipment, including systems that speed law-enforcement notification during an emergency. (U.S. Department of Justice - Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office))
Most recent cycle closed. Confirm the next cycle at the official source.Listing: 16.710Full program details[4]
STOP School Violence Program (BJA) - Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School ViolenceClosed
Funding FY25 solicitation (the most recent on record): award ceiling $2,000,000, award floor $0, 79 awards anticipated. UNVERIFIED: the total program funding figure and the Category 1 / Category 2 split. The Grants.gov synopsis records total program funding as $2,000,000 against 79 awards at a $2,000,000 ceiling, which is internally inconsistent and appears to be a data-entry artefact, and the previously published ~$83,000,000 total and category breakdown could not be re-confirmed on a primary source in this pass. Treat the per-award ceiling as the reliable figure.
Funds evidence-based violence prevention: threat assessment, anonymous reporting, and law-enforcement coordination (cannot fund cameras, locks, or fencing). (U.S. Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Justice Programs)
Most recent cycle closed. Confirm the next cycle at the official source.Listing: 16.839Full program details[5]
Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence)Rolling
Funding Awards are sized to the incident and vary widely; there is no published per-award cap and no match requirement. The ten published FY2026 awards range from $25,434 (Lower Kuskokwim School District, AK) to $439,630 (Anchorage School District, AK). FY2025 awards ranged from $12,989 to $1,252,000. Two tiers exist, both at the Secretary's discretion and subject to appropriations: Immediate Services (emergency short-term assistance) and Extended Services (longer recovery).
Funds short-term recovery services, including security measures, after a school experiences a violent or traumatic event. (U.S. Department of Education - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Safe and Supportive Schools)
Deadline: No fixed deadline, event-driven. LEAs and IHEs apply on a rolling basis after a qualifying traumatic event by contacting the Department of Education. The program now lists separate contacts for school-violence SERV and natural-disaster SERV; get the current contact from the official program page rather than a cached address.Listing: 84.184SFull program details[6]

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

How schools comply

How do Alabama schools go from paper plans to a map responders can actually use?

The state already funds the mapping itself: SB98 bars charging any district or agency a fee to access the data, and ALEA approved production contracts in January 2026. A single-day LiDAR and drone scan delivers a live 3D digital twin that meets the true-north, gridded, fully-labeled standard the statute demands. 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

What else do Alabama districts ask about school mapping?

Does Alabama require school safety mapping?
Yes. Alabama's 2024 School Security Act (SB98) created a statewide School Mapping Data Program inside ALEA, requiring walk-through-verified digital floor plans of every public school, overlaid on aerial imagery and made interoperable with first-responder software at no cost to schools. Alabama's 2024 School Security Act (SB98) created a statewide School Mapping Data Program inside ALEA that requires accurate, walk-through-verified digital floor plans of every public school (with rooms, doors, utilities, AEDs, trauma kits, grounds and x/y grid) overlaid on aerial imagery, made interoperable with first-responder and school security software at no cost to schools or agencies.
What does Alabama School Security Act (Senate Bill 98, 2024 Regular Session) require?
Establishes a School Mapping Data Program within the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which collaborates with local boards of education to produce accurate digital mapping data for every public K-12 school (subject to appropriation). Section 4(b)(1) requires the data to include accurate floor plans of each school overlaid on current, verified aerial imagery of the campus and to: (a) be oriented true north; (b) be verified by a walk-through of school buildings and grounds; (c) contain site-specific labeling matching the building structure, including room labels, hallway names, external door/stairwell numbers, and locations of hazards, critical utility locations, key boxes, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and trauma kits; (d) contain site-specific labeling of school grounds, including parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads, and neighboring properties; and (e) be overlaid with gridded x and y coordinates. Data must be compatible with the software platforms used by local, county, state, and federal public-safety agencies that serve the school, and compatible with the school's own security software platform (Section 4(d)(1)). It must be available in printable format and, on request, in a digital format integratable into interactive mobile platforms (Section 4(d)(2)). Mapping data is provided to each local board of education, local law enforcement agency, and public-safety agency for emergency response (Section 4(c)). Section 4(e) bars requiring any entity (law enforcement, local board, or public-safety agency) to purchase additional software or pay a fee to view or access the data.
When must Alabama schools comply?
Act effective October 1, 2024 (Section 7). The mapping program is implemented as funds are appropriated and via ALEA rulemaking; ALEA contracted statewide mapping production to an outside vendor in January 2026. The statute sets no single per-school district compliance date; updates are completed as ALEA deems necessary in consultation with the State Board of Education and the applicable local board (Section 4(b)(2)). Alabama School Security Act (Senate Bill 98, 2024 Regular Session). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.
What grants help Alabama schools pay for safety mapping?
Alabama districts may be eligible for programs including Statewide School Mapping Data Program (ALEA-administered, state-funded mapping contracts), FY 2026 Supplemental School Safety Allocation to local boards (ALSDE fund source 1770), 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

Where does every claim on this page come from?

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. Alabama Legislature (ALISON) - SB98 Enrolled (2024 Regular Session) verified 2026-06-23
  2. Alabama Legislature - Contract Review Committee Agenda for January 8, 2026 (ALEA school mapping contract); program established by Ala. Code 16-22B-4 (SB98, Act 2024-356) verified 2026-10-13
  3. Alabama State Department of Education - Memo FY26-3029, Supplemental Appropriations (Act 2026-599), Appendix C School Safety (July 1, 2026) verified 2026-10-13
  4. COPS Office - School Violence Prevention Program (official program page) verified 2026-09-01
  5. Bureau of Justice Assistance - Available Funding (current open opportunities listing) verified 2026-09-01
  6. U.S. Department of Education - Project SERV (official program page) verified 2026-09-01
Compare across state lines

What do the states bordering Alabama require?

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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