Tennessee school safety

School mapping requirements & grants in Tennessee

Yes. Tennessee's SAVE Act (Tenn. Code Ann. section 49-6-804) requires every public school district and charter school to give local law enforcement, the Department of Education, and the Department of Safety their floor plans for all school buildings each year by July 1.

Tennessee law requires every public school district and charter school to give local law enforcement, the state Department of Education, and the Department of Safety their school safety plans and the floor plans for all school buildings each year by July 1, and requires those plans to ensure responders have access to floor plans/blueprints/maps of the building and grounds.^[1]

Why this matters in Tennessee

Why do Tennessee schools need responder-ready maps now?

The SAVE Act makes all 148 of Tennessee's districts hand law enforcement floor plans for every building each July 1, and a static blueprint filed once goes stale the moment a wall moves across 1,905 schools. A live 3D twin keeps every floor plan current year over year and reaches responders through RapidSOS, turning a recurring annual filing into an asset that actually helps when a building changes.

The mandate

What does Tennessee law require?

Law

Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act, as amended by Public Chapter 367 (HB0322, 2023)^[2]

Statute

Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-804 (with § 49-6-805 and § 49-6-808)^[2]

Funding

What grants help Tennessee schools pay for mapping?

Tennessee 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.

Tennessee state programs

FY26 Public School Security GrantOpen

Funding $20 million statewide, one-time/non-recurring; per-district allocation based on Average Daily Membership (ADM); no local match required

All Tennessee public school districts (LEAs)

^[3]

Statewide School Resource Officer (SRO) Program GrantAnnual

Funding Funding not to exceed $75,000 per year, per SRO, per school

Local law enforcement agencies providing POST-certified SRO services to Tennessee K-12 public, public charter, and alternative schools

Recurring program, confirm the current cycle at the source^[4]

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 ^[5]

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 ^[6]

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 ^[7]

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

Because the duty repeats every July 1 and must guarantee responders access to accurate building and grounds maps, static blueprints filed once and forgotten fall short. A single-day LiDAR and drone scan produces a live 3D digital twin that keeps every floor plan current and reaches responders through RapidSOS, with no new software for them to buy or install. 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 Tennessee districts ask about school mapping?

Does Tennessee require school safety mapping?

Yes. Tennessee's SAVE Act (Tenn. Code Ann. section 49-6-804) requires every public school district and charter school to give local law enforcement, the Department of Education, and the Department of Safety their floor plans for all school buildings each year by July 1. Tennessee law requires every public school district and charter school to give local law enforcement, the state Department of Education, and the Department of Safety their school safety plans and the floor plans for all school buildings each year by July 1, and requires those plans to ensure responders have access to floor plans/blueprints/maps of the building and grounds.

What grants help Tennessee schools pay for safety mapping?

Tennessee districts may be eligible for programs including FY26 Public School Security Grant, Statewide School Resource Officer (SRO) Program Grant, 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.

2024 Tennessee Code § 49-6-804, Adoption of comprehensive plans (Justia) verified 2026-06-23
2024 Tennessee Code § 49-6-804, Adoption of comprehensive plans (Justia) verified 2026-06-23
TN Dept. of Education - Grants & Safe Schools Act verified 2026-06-23
TN Dept. of Safety & Homeland Security - Statewide SRO Program Grant 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee brief on one page?

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

A free 15-minute review of how your district can meet Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act, as amended by Public Chapter 367 (HB0322, 2023) and which Tennessee grants will pay for it.

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