Georgia school safety

School mapping requirements & grants in Georgia

Georgia's Ricky and Alyssa's Law (HB 268, 2025) requires every public school to procure interoperable digital school mapping data - floor plans, aerial imagery, and labeled access points/utilities/emergency assets - usable by 911 centers and first responders, by July 1, 2026, with annual in-person accuracy verification. A companion panic-alert mandate (Alyssa's Alert) must integrate with that mapping data.^[1]

Why this matters in Georgia

Why do Georgia schools need responder-ready maps now?

Every one of Georgia's 2,327 public schools faces a hard July 1, 2026 deadline to procure interoperable mapping data, and the bar climbs each year after with mandatory in-person re-verification. Districts that wait will scramble against a fixed date; the ones acting now lock in a model their 911 centers can open without buying new software, before a responder ever arrives at an unfamiliar campus.

The mandate

What does Georgia law require?

Law

Ricky and Alyssa's Law (House Bill 268, 2025 - Comprehensive School Safety provisions)^[1]

Statute

O.C.G.A. § 38-3-154 (school mapping data); § 38-3-151(4) (definition); § 20-2-591 (Alyssa's Alert panic system). Enacted by 2025 Ga. HB 268, signed Apr. 28, 2025.^[1]

Compliance

July 1, 2026 (initial procurement of school mapping data and panic alert system); accuracy re-verification by July 1 each year thereafter. Act effective July 1, 2025.^[1]

What schools must provide: Not later than July 1, 2026, each public school must procure 'school mapping data' (building information, floor plans, and aerial imagery). The data must: (1) be in formats that conform to and integrate with software platforms used by local public safety answering points (PSAPs) and local/state/federal public safety agencies, without requiring those agencies to buy additional software; (2) be printable, electronically shareable, and (if requested) digitally integrated into interactive mobile platforms; (3) be verified for accuracy by July 1 each year via in-person inspection; (4) identify and label interior access points (rooms, doors, stairwells, hallways) using identifiers/names used by staff and students; (5) identify and label critical utilities, key boxes, AEDs, and trauma kits; (6) identify and label exterior areas (parking, athletic fields, surrounding roads, outbuildings, neighboring properties). Local school systems must collaborate with and receive concurrence from their primary local law enforcement agency before procuring. GEMA/HS may adopt rules for standards, encryption, and secure transmission to first responders. Data is exempt from public disclosure (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72). A companion mandate (§ 20-2-591) requires a mobile panic alert system ('Alyssa's Alert') by July 1, 2026 that integrates with the § 38-3-154 mapping data and NG9-1-1.^[1]

Funding

What grants help Georgia schools pay for mapping?

Georgia 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)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 ^[2]

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 ^[3]

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 ^[4]

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 Georgia schools go from paper plans to a map responders can actually use?

Georgia's statute is unusually specific: the data has to integrate with what 911 centers already run, get re-verified in person annually, and label everything from key boxes to AEDs. Ark delivers exactly that as a live 3D digital twin from one LiDAR and drone scan, connected to responders through RapidSOS with no new software for them to buy. 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 Georgia districts ask about school mapping?

Does Georgia require school safety mapping?

Yes. Under Ricky and Alyssa's Law, every Georgia public school must procure interoperable school mapping data, floor plans, aerial imagery, and labeled access points and emergency assets, by July 1, 2026, with in-person accuracy verification each year after. The deadline is close, and the accuracy bar is high. Georgia's Ricky and Alyssa's Law (HB 268, 2025) requires every public school to procure interoperable digital school mapping data - floor plans, aerial imagery, and labeled access points/utilities/emergency assets - usable by 911 centers and first responders, by July 1, 2026, with annual in-person accuracy verification. A companion panic-alert mandate (Alyssa's Alert) must integrate with that mapping data.

What does Ricky and Alyssa's Law (House Bill 268, 2025 - Comprehensive School Safety provisions) require?

Not later than July 1, 2026, each public school must procure 'school mapping data' (building information, floor plans, and aerial imagery). The data must: (1) be in formats that conform to and integrate with software platforms used by local public safety answering points (PSAPs) and local/state/federal public safety agencies, without requiring those agencies to buy additional software; (2) be printable, electronically shareable, and (if requested) digitally integrated into interactive mobile platforms; (3) be verified for accuracy by July 1 each year via in-person inspection; (4) identify and label interior access points (rooms, doors, stairwells, hallways) using identifiers/names used by staff and students; (5) identify and label critical utilities, key boxes, AEDs, and trauma kits; (6) identify and label exterior areas (parking, athletic fields, surrounding roads, outbuildings, neighboring properties). Local school systems must collaborate with and receive concurrence from their primary local law enforcement agency before procuring. GEMA/HS may adopt rules for standards, encryption, and secure transmission to first responders. Data is exempt from public disclosure (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72). A companion mandate (§ 20-2-591) requires a mobile panic alert system ('Alyssa's Alert') by July 1, 2026 that integrates with the § 38-3-154 mapping data and NG9-1-1.

When must Georgia schools comply?

July 1, 2026 (initial procurement of school mapping data and panic alert system); accuracy re-verification by July 1 each year thereafter. Act effective July 1, 2025. Ricky and Alyssa's Law (House Bill 268, 2025 - Comprehensive School Safety provisions). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.

What grants help Georgia schools pay for safety mapping?

Georgia districts may be eligible for programs including 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.

Georgia Office of the Governor - signed text of HB 268 (2025), creating O.C.G.A. § 38-3-154 verified 2026-08-24
COPS Office - School Violence Prevention Program (official program page) verified 2026-09-01
Bureau of Justice Assistance - Available Funding (current open opportunities listing) verified 2026-09-01
U.S. Department of Education - Project SERV (official program page) verified 2026-09-01

Compare across state lines

What do the states bordering Georgia 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.

Free brief

Want the Georgia brief on one page?

A printable summary of Georgia’s mapping mandate, the grants that fund it, the buyer-side standard, and a district readiness checklist. Built to forward to your board.

→ Mandate status and key deadlines
→ State and federal grants that pay for it
→ Readiness checklist, every claim cited

Which Georgia grants does your district actually qualify for?

A free 15-minute review of how your district can meet Ricky and Alyssa's Law (House Bill 268, 2025 - Comprehensive School Safety provisions) and which Georgia grants will pay for it.

→ First responder pre-registration included
→ One scan, one school day, zero disruption to classes
→ Grant guidance for Georgia districts