LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY
OFFICE OF FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
LS 6754 NOTE PREPARED: Jan 9, 2025
BILL NUMBER: HB 1398 BILL AMENDED:
SUBJECT: Office of School Safety.
FIRST AUTHOR: Rep. Davis BILL STATUS: As Introduced
FIRST SPONSOR:
FUNDS AFFECTED:XGENERAL IMPACT: State & Local
XDEDICATED
FEDERAL
Summary of Legislation: This bill establishes the Office of School Safety (OSS) within the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS).
It requires the OSS to:
(1) function as a central repository for best practices regarding school safety;
(2) establish certain school safety guidelines and standards; and
(3) monitor the implementation of school safety legislation.
The bill allows the OSS, at the request of a county school safety commission, to:
(1) review school safety plans;
(2) provide onsite safety reviews; and
(3) provide guidance or assistance relating to school safety matters.
The bill requires the OSS to maintain a public website containing certain information. It provides that the
Secured School Safety Board must review school safety grant expenditures and submit an annual report to
the office. It also creates certain responsibilities for multi-disciplinary threat assessment teams upon receipt
of a report of a threat or threatening behavior.
The bill repeals the Division of School Building Physical Security and Safety established within the
Department of Education.
Effective Date: July 1, 2025.
Explanation of State Expenditures: Office of School Safety: This bill creates the Office of School Safety
(OSS) under DHS. OSS would have many of the responsibilities performed by the Division of School
Building Physical Security and Safety as well as new requirements. The new requirements include evaluating
the activities of school safety commissions, investigating incident responses and providing certain kinds of
support to county school safety commissions. Assuming that the resources currently dedicated to the Division
of School Building Physical Security and Safety are reassigned to OSS, implementation will likely require
at least an additional 3 full-time equivalent employees. The additional funds and resources required could
HB 1398 1 be supplied through existing staff and resources currently being used in another program or with new
appropriations. Ultimately, the source of funds and resources required to satisfy the requirements of this bill
will depend on legislative and administrative actions.
Secured School Safety Board: This bill provides that the Secured School Safety Board will review and
evaluate grant expenditures and provide a report on its findings to the OSS. This constitutes a significant
workload increase for the board, which approved the funding of 506 projects across the state for FY 2025.
This provision is likely to require at least one additional full-time equivalent with the relevant expertise to
undertake such evaluations with additional support from elsewhere in DHS on an as-needed basis. Based on
other positions with similar requirements, salary and benefit costs are expected to be $100,000 to $135,000.
Department of Education: This bill repeals the Division of School Building Physical Security and Safety,
which is part of the Department of Education (DOE). DOE is still required to work in conjunction with the
OSS in developing and implementing certain protocols as specified in the bill, but this bill will decrease the
net workload for DOE.
Explanation of State Revenues:
Explanation of Local Expenditures: Threat Assessment and Notifications: This bill specifies the
responsibilities of a multi-disciplinary threat assessment team. Teams are required to determine the
immediacy of threats and threatening behavior. Upon determining the presence of an immediate threat, the
team must notify the superintendent or superintendent’s designee of such a finding. The superintendent is
then required to immediately notify the parents of the student engaged in the threatening behavior. These
provisions will require that members of a team and their administrators are available to respond to reported
threats immediately, which will increase workload relative to existing law. Expenditure impacts of this
provision are likely to be minimal. [Current law requires school corporations to establish multi-disciplinary
threat assessment teams no later than July 1, 2025. Grants in support of team training are available through
the Indiana Secured School Matching Fund.]
County School Safety Commissions: County school safety commissions will be monitored by OSS to ensure
implementation of school safety legislation. Monitoring may increase commission workload due to reporting
requirements, facilitating investigations in the event of a major incident, or other efforts necessary to meet
OSS requirements. Monitoring may decrease net workload for commissions by facilitating OSS assistance
in implementing best practices and providing expert input to address identified areas of noncompliance. Net
workload is likely to increase in the short term as initial changes are made and decrease in the long term as
improved processes require fewer resources to sustain.
Explanation of Local Revenues:
State Agencies Affected: Department of Homeland Security; Department of Education.
Local Agencies Affected: School districts, county school safety commissions.
Information Sources: https://www.in.gov/dhs/files/secured-school-safety-board-report-2024.pdf; LSA
State Staffing Report;
Fiscal Analyst: Alexander Raggio, 317-234-9485.
HB 1398 2