Students Safe at School Act; create to provide procedures for active shooter drills and simulations.

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To: Education;
Appropriations A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representative Grady

HOUSE BILL NO. 1491

AN ACT TO CREATE "THE STUDENTS SAFE AT SCHOOL ACT"; TO DEFINE 1
TERMS UNDER THE ACT; TO OUTLINE STANDARDS; TO PROVIDE FOR STUDENT 2
HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROTOCOLS; TO SET FORTH NOTICE REQUIREMENTS; 3
TO ADDRESS STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SHOOTER DRILLS; TO ADDRESS 4
STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVE SHOOTER SIMULATIONS; TO REQUIRE 5
VIOLENCE PREVENTION TRAINING; TO PROVIDE FOR STUDENT PARTICIPATION 6
IN SAFETY PLANNING; TO PROVIDE FOR PUBLICATION OF VENDORS; TO 7
CREATE GUIDELINES TO MEASURE EFFECTIVENESS OF DRILLS; TO CREATE 8
THE SCHOOL EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAPPING DATA GRANT PROGRAM WITHIN 9
THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL; TO AUTHORIZE EACH SCHOOL 10
DISTRICT, CHARTER SCHOOL GOVERNING BOARD AND PRIVATE SCHOOL 11
GOVERNING BOARD, IN CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 12
AGENCIES, TO PROVIDE SCHOOL MAPPING DATA FOR EACH SCHOOL IN THE 13
AREA OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY'S JURISDICTION; TO REQUIRE THE 14
ENTITY PRODUCING THE DATA TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING DATA TO 15
THE SCHOOLS AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AND PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES 16
FOR USE IN RESPONSE TO EMERGENCIES; TO PRESCRIBE THE REQUIRED 17
COMPONENTS OF WHAT SCHOOL MAPPING DATA SHOULD ENTAIL; TO REQUIRE 18
THAT UPDATES TO THE SCHOOL MAPPING DATA BE ACCESSIBLE IN SOFTWARE 19
PLATFORMS; TO ESTABLISH THE SCHOOL EMERGENCY RESPONSE MAPPING DATA 20
GRANT PROGRAM IN THE STATE TREASURY; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 21
37-11-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE 22
AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 23
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 24
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the 25
"Students Safe at School Act." 26
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SECTION 2. For the purposes of this act the following words 27
and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed in this section unless 28
the context shall otherwise require: 29
(a) "Active shooter drill means an emergency 30
preparedness drill designed to teach students, teachers, school 31
personnel and staff how to respond in the event of an armed 32
intruder on campus or an armed assailant in the immediate vicinity 33
of the school, and which may not include any sensorial components, 34
activities or elements that mimic a real-life shooting. An active 35
shooter drill, including practice active shooter drills, is not an 36
active shooter simulation. 37
(b) "Active shooter simulation" means an emergency 38
exercise, including full-scale or functional exercises, designed 39
to teach adult school personnel and staff how to respond in the 40
event of an armed intruder on campus or an armed assailant in the 41
immediate vicinity of the school, and which incorporates 42
activities or elements mimicking a real-life shooting, which 43
include, but are not limited to, simulation of tactical 44
response by law enforcement. An active shooter simulation is not 45
an active shooter drill. 46
(c) "Evidence-based" means a program or practice that 47
demonstrates any of the following: 48
(i) A statistically significant effect on relevant 49
outcomes based on any of the following: 50
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1. Strong evidence from not fewer than one 51
(1) well-designed and well-implemented experimental study; 52
2. Moderate evidence from not fewer than one 53
(1) well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study; 54
3. Promising evidence from not fewer than one 55
(1) well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with 56
statistical controls for selection bias; or 57
(ii) A rationale based on high-quality research 58
findings or positive evaluations that the program or practice is 59
likely to improve relevant outcomes, which shall also include the 60
ongoing efforts to examine the effects of the program or practice. 61
(d) "Department of Education" means the State 62
Department of Education. 63
(e) "Department of Mental Health" means the Mississippi 64
Department of Mental Health. 65
(f) "Full-scale exercise" means an operations-based 66
exercise that is typically the most complex and resource-intensive 67
of the exercise types and often involves multiple agencies, 68
jurisdictions, organizations and real-time movement of resources. 69
(g) "Functional exercise" means an operations-based 70
exercise designed to assess and evaluate capabilities and 71
functions while in a realistic, real-time environment, however, 72
movement of resources is usually simulated. 73
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SECTION 3. (1) Every active shooter drill, including 74
practice active shooter drills, undertaken with students in Grades 75
K-12 shall be: 76
(a) Accessible; 77
(b) Developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate, 78
including appropriate safety verbiage and vocabulary; 79
(c) Culturally aware; 80
(d) Trauma-informed; and 81
(e) Including of accommodations for students with 82
mobility restrictions, sensory needs, developmental or physical 83
disabilities, mental health needs, and auditory or visual 84
limitations. 85
(2) Before a practice active shooter drill can be held, it 86
shall meet the requirements of subsection (1). 87
SECTION 4. (1) Protocols for active shooter drills, 88
including practice active shooter drills, shall include a 89
reasonable amount of time, immediately following the drill, for 90
teachers to debrief with their students, which shall: 91
(a) Be provided to students before regular classroom 92
activity can be resumed; and 93
(b) Allow students to access mental health postvention 94
services available on campus, including, counselors, school 95
psychologists or social workers. 96
(2) A practice active shooter drill cannot be combined or 97
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conducted with any other type of emergency preparedness drill 98
required under Section 37-11-5. 99
(3) When an active shooter drill is a practice drill, it 100
must be announced as a practice drill before the commencement of 101
the practice drill using concise and age-appropriate language and, 102
at a minimum, informing students that there is no immediate danger 103
to life and safety. 104
SECTION 5. (1) Before a practice active shooter drill is 105
held, the school or charter school in which the practice drill is 106
to take place, shall provide notice to every student's parent or 107
legal guardian. 108
(2) Notice of an upcoming practice active shooter drill 109
should be provided at least twenty-four (24) hours before the 110
drill is scheduled to take place. The notice shall state the 111
right of the parent or legal guardian to opt their student out of 112
participating. If a student is opted out of participating in 113
practice active shooter drills, no negative mark shall be added to 114
the student's general school attendance record nor shall 115
nonparticipation alone make a student ineligible to participate in 116
or attend school activities. 117
(3) The State Department of Education shall ensure the 118
availability of alternative safety education for students who are 119
opted out, or otherwise exempted from participating in practice 120
active shooter drills. Alternative safety education shall provide 121
essential safety instruction through less sensorial safety 122
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training methods and shall be appropriate for students with mental 123
health needs, mobility restrictions, sensory needs, developmental 124
or physical disabilities and auditory or visual limitations. 125
(4) Where notice cannot be provided in advance, notice that 126
a practice active shooter drill took place shall be provided to 127
every student's parent or legal guardian within twenty-four (24) 128
hours of the drill having taken place. 129
SECTION 6. (1) No student in Grades K-12 shall be required 130
to participate in a practice active shooter drill where the 131
training model used to teach school personnel how to conduct a 132
proper drill does not meet the standards set forth in Sections 3 133
and 4 of this act. 134
(2) (a) No student in Grades K-12 shall be required to 135
participate in an active shooter simulation. No active shooter 136
simulation may take place during regular school hours if a 137
majority of students are present or expected to be present at the 138
school. 139
(b) Parents or legal guardians of students 140
in Grades 9-12 shall have the opportunity to opt their student 141
into participation in active shooter simulations. Parents or 142
legal guardian opting in must provide written notice to their 143
student's school, which such notice, at a minimum, must clearly 144
state the student has permission to participate in the simulation. 145
SECTION 7. (1) Every school district and charter school 146
undertaking an active shooter drill, including practice active 147
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shooter drills, shall provide students in Grades 6-12 at least one 148
(1) hour or one (1) standard class period of violence prevention 149
training annually. 150
(2) The violence prevention training required in subsection 151
(1) shall be evidence-based and may be delivered in-person, 152
live-virtual or digitally. Training, at a minimum, shall teach 153
students the following: 154
(a) How to identify observable warning signs and 155
signals of an individual who may be at risk of harming themselves 156
or others; 157
(b) The importance of taking threats seriously and 158
seeking help; and 159
(c) The steps that can be taken to report dangerous, 160
violent, threatening, harmful or potentially harmful activity. 161
(3) Within one hundred twenty (120) days of this law taking 162
effect, the State Department of Education shall develop a list of 163
evidence-based trainings that school districts and charter schools 164
may use to fulfill the requirements of this section, including 165
no-cost programming, if any, and shall: 166
(a) Post the list publicly on the department's website; 167
and 168
(b) Update the list every two (2) years. 169
(4) School districts and charter schools may use a training 170
that does not appear on the list if the training meets the 171
requirements set forth in this section. 172
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SECTION 8. School districts and charter schools shall ensure 173
students have the opportunity to contribute to their school's 174
safety and violence-prevention planning. These opportunities 175
shall align with the recommendations of the Federal Emergency 176
Management Agency's multi-hazard planning for schools, including, 177
but not limited to: 178
(a) Providing student opportunities for leadership 179
related to prevention and safety; 180
(b) Providing encouragement and support to students in 181
establishing clubs and programs focused on safety; and 182
(c) Providing students with the opportunity to seek help 183
from adults, and to learn about prevention connected to topics 184
including bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and suicide. 185
SECTION 9. (1) The State Department of Education shall make 186
publicly available, on its website, a list of vendors who teach 187
school personnel, including school safety officers, how to conduct 188
active shooter drills. At a minimum, the vendor list must include 189
the name of the school or charter school, the name of the vendor 190
and the vendor's website address, if available. The vendor list 191
shall be updated every two (2) years. 192
(2) For the purpose of this section, the term "vendor" shall 193
include for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as public 194
agencies. 195
SECTION 10. (1) The State Department of Education shall, in 196
partnership with the Department of Mental Health, create 197
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guidelines for measuring the effectiveness of active shooter 198
drills. The guidelines shall: 199
(a) Be made available to every school district or 200
charter school that conducts an active shooter drill, including 201
practice active shooter drills; and 202
(b) Provide parents, legal guardians, students, 203
staff and school-based mental health professionals the 204
right to review and comment on the active shooter drill 205
guidelines. 206
(2) Every local school board and charter school governing 207
board shall hold at least one (1) meeting every year to review the 208
following: 209
(a) The efficacy and effects of each school's active 210
shooter drills, including practice active shooter drills; 211
(b) The impact of active shooter drills on the safety 212
of students and staff; and 213
(c) The impact of active shooter drills, including 214
practice active shooter drills, on the mental health and wellness 215
of students and staff. 216
SECTION 11. Section 37-11-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 217
brought forward as follows: 218
37-11-5. (1) It shall be the duty of the principals and 219
teachers in all public school buildings to instruct the pupils in 220
the methods of fire drills and to practice fire drills until all 221
the pupils in the school are familiar with the methods of escape. 222
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ST: Students Safe at School Act; create to
provide procedures for active shooter drills and
simulations.
Such fire drills shall be conducted often enough to keep such 223
pupils well drilled. It shall be the further duty of such 224
principals and teachers to instruct the pupils in all programs of 225
emergency management as may be designated by the State Department 226
of Education. 227
(2) It shall be the further duty of such principals and 228
teachers to develop and conduct an active shooter drill within the 229
first sixty (60) days of each new school semester for students, 230
teachers and staff. 231
SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from 232
and after July 1, 2026. 233