New Jersey school safety

School mapping requirements & grants in New Jersey

Yes. Under N.J.S.A. 18A:41-7.1, every public, charter, renaissance, and nonpublic school must give local law enforcement digital critical incident mapping data, aerial images, floor plans with room numbers, access points, and hazard and utility shut-off locations, in force since the 2023-2024 school year.

New Jersey law requires every public, charter, renaissance, and nonpublic school to give local law enforcement digital critical incident mapping data (aerial images, floor plans with room numbers, access points, hazardous-material and utility shut-off locations) that is interoperable with first-responder platforms, printable, and verified annually by a building walkthrough.^[1]

Why this matters in New Jersey

Why do New Jersey schools need responder-ready maps now?

New Jersey law has required digital critical incident mapping since the 2023-2024 school year, yet the state-contracted maps are flat data filed once, not a live model responders can move through during an emergency. Going beyond the floor-plan minimum to a cloud-viewable 3D twin closes the gap between meeting the statute and giving responders something genuinely usable, with RapidSOS delivery that needs no new platform.

The mandate

What does New Jersey law require?

Law

S2426 (signed into law as P.L.2022, c.122), amending New Jersey's school critical incident mapping statute (originally P.L.2019, c.106)^[1]

Statute

N.J.S.A. 18A:41-7.1^[1]

Compliance

The amending act (P.L.2022, c.122 / S2426) took effect immediately upon signing on November 30, 2022, and applied to the first full school year following the date of enactment (i.e., the 2023-2024 school year). No separate later compliance deadline is set in statute; verification is ongoing via the required annual walkthrough.^[1]

What schools must provide: Each district board of education and the chief administrator of a nonpublic school must provide critical incident mapping data for all schools and school grounds to local law enforcement authorities (or, in municipalities with no police department, to an entity designated by the Superintendent of State Police). 'Critical incident mapping data' means information provided in electronic or digital form to assist first responders in an emergency, including but not limited to: aerial images of the school; floor plans, including room and suite numbers; building access points; locations of hazardous materials and utility shut-offs; and other relevant location information. The data must (1) be compatible with all platforms and applications used by local, State, and federal law enforcement authorities; (2) be provided in a printable format; and (3) be verified for accuracy through an annual walkthrough of school buildings and grounds. Revised mapping data must be provided any time the data changes.^[1]

Funding

What grants help New Jersey schools pay for mapping?

New Jersey 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.

New Jersey state programs

Statewide School Security (Critical Incident Mapping) InitiativeOpen

All public and nonpublic K-12 schools in New Jersey. Not a competitive grant that schools apply for individually: the New Jersey State Police centrally contracts a vendor to collect and digitize school maps and load them into a database, so the funding pays for the mapping at the state level rather than reimbursing schools.

^[1]

Securing Our Children's Future Bond Act - School Security GrantOpen

Funding $75 million authorized statewide for school security projects under the bond act (per NJ DOE program materials and multiple reports)

New Jersey school districts and county vocational school districts, for eligible school security capital projects. Confirm current round eligibility and scope with NJ DOE Office of School Facilities.

^[2]

Nonpublic School Security Program (state aid)Formula

Funding Per-pupil aid set annually in the state Appropriations Act (no fixed statutory dollar amount); funds security services, equipment, or technology

Nonpublic schools that indicate participation on the Nonpublic School Enrollment Report; aid is administered through the resident public school district. Covers security equipment/technology (cameras, access control, building hardening, emergency communications, etc.); excludes capital improvements, permanent fixtures, and personnel.

Recurring program, confirm the current cycle at the source^[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 New Jersey schools go from paper plans to a map responders can actually use?

The law demands data that is interoperable with first-responder platforms, printable, and re-verified by an annual building walkthrough, so accuracy is a recurring obligation, not a one-time upload. A single-day LiDAR and drone scan produces a live 3D digital twin that stays current and reaches responders through RapidSOS, no new platform for any 911 center to adopt. 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 New Jersey districts ask about school mapping?

Does New Jersey require school safety mapping?

Yes. Under N.J.S.A. 18A:41-7.1, every public, charter, renaissance, and nonpublic school must give local law enforcement digital critical incident mapping data, aerial images, floor plans with room numbers, access points, and hazard and utility shut-off locations, in force since the 2023-2024 school year. New Jersey law requires every public, charter, renaissance, and nonpublic school to give local law enforcement digital critical incident mapping data (aerial images, floor plans with room numbers, access points, hazardous-material and utility shut-off locations) that is interoperable with first-responder platforms, printable, and verified annually by a building walkthrough.

What does S2426 (signed into law as P.L.2022, c.122), amending New Jersey's school critical incident mapping statute (originally P.L.2019, c.106) require?

Each district board of education and the chief administrator of a nonpublic school must provide critical incident mapping data for all schools and school grounds to local law enforcement authorities (or, in municipalities with no police department, to an entity designated by the Superintendent of State Police). 'Critical incident mapping data' means information provided in electronic or digital form to assist first responders in an emergency, including but not limited to: aerial images of the school; floor plans, including room and suite numbers; building access points; locations of hazardous materials and utility shut-offs; and other relevant location information. The data must (1) be compatible with all platforms and applications used by local, State, and federal law enforcement authorities; (2) be provided in a printable format; and (3) be verified for accuracy through an annual walkthrough of school buildings and grounds. Revised mapping data must be provided any time the data changes.

When must New Jersey schools comply?

The amending act (P.L.2022, c.122 / S2426) took effect immediately upon signing on November 30, 2022, and applied to the first full school year following the date of enactment (i.e., the 2023-2024 school year). No separate later compliance deadline is set in statute; verification is ongoing via the required annual walkthrough. S2426 (signed into law as P.L.2022, c.122), amending New Jersey's school critical incident mapping statute (originally P.L.2019, c.106). Districts should confirm current timelines with their state education agency.

What grants help New Jersey schools pay for safety mapping?

New Jersey districts may be eligible for programs including Statewide School Security (Critical Incident Mapping) Initiative, Securing Our Children's Future Bond Act - School Security Grant, Nonpublic School Security Program (state aid), 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.

New Jersey Legislature - S2426 bill text (enacted as P.L.2022, c.122) verified 2026-06-23
NJ Department of Education - Securing Our Children's Future Bond Act School Security Grant Instructions (PDF) verified 2026-06-23
NJ Department of Education - Nonpublic School Security Program Guidelines verified 2026-06-23
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 New Jersey require?

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

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

Free brief

Want the New Jersey brief on one page?

A printable summary of New Jersey’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 New Jersey grants does your district actually qualify for?

A free 15-minute review of how your district can meet S2426 (signed into law as P.L.2022, c.122), amending New Jersey's school critical incident mapping statute (originally P.L.2019, c.106) and which New Jersey grants will pay for it.

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