SB 1215 - HB 1288
FISCAL NOTE
Fiscal Review Committee
Tennessee General Assembly
March 13, 2025
Fiscal Analyst: Alan Hampton | Email: alan.hampton@capitol.tn.gov | Phone: 615-741-2564
SB 1215 - HB 1288
SUMMARY OF BILL: Creates within the General Fund a special account to be known as
the School Safety Grant Fund (Fund) to support local education agencies (LEAs) and public charter
schools with prevention, reduction, and response efforts with regard to school shootings.
Establishes that the fund is composed of money appropriated by the General Assembly, and gifts,
grants, and other donations received by the Department of Education (DOE).
Requires the DOE to administer the Fund and to allocate and disburse grants to LEAs and public
charter schools that have had a shooting or other firearm-related death on school grounds on a
school day while students were present. Requires the DOE to establish and publish guidelines for
applications, including eligibility, and the award of grants.
Requires the State Treasurer to invest moneys in the Fund for the benefit of the Fund and requires
interest accruing on investments and deposits of the Fund to be credited to and remain part of the
Fund. Requires any unencumbered moneys and any unexpended balance of the Fund remaining at
the end of a fiscal year to be carried forward until expended.
Requires the DOE to submit an annual report to the certain committees of the General Assembly
by March 1, 2026, and by March 1 of each subsequent year on the status of this program and the
allocation of grant funds.
FISCAL IMPACT:
STATE GOVERNMENT
REVENUE School Safety Grant Fund
FY25-26 $10,000,000
EXPENDITURES General Fund
FY25-26 $10,010,000
OTHER FISCAL IMPACT
The timing and amount of disbursements from the School Safety Grant Fund to local education
agencies and public charter schools is unknown.
SB 1215 - HB 1288 2
Assumptions:
• The proposed legislation requires the DOE to award grants to schools, with priority to be
given to schools based on an evaluation of need, including the availability of school
resource officers, the number of firearm-related incidents in the past two school years, and
the financial resources of the LEA or public charter school.
• Based on information provided by the DOE, there have been two schools in the past five
years that qualify to receive a grant under the proposed legislation.
• Public Chapter 418 of 2023 and Public Chapter 4 of the First Extraordinary Session of 2023
appropriated $40,000,000 and $10,000,000, respectively, for public school security and
safety grants.
• Based on the School Security and SRO Grant Report for Quarter 2 issued January 30, 2025, 100
percent of the $40,000,000 in non-recurring funds appropriated for the Public School
Security Grant and the $10,000,000 in special session funding have been allocated.
• For purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that $10,000,000 will be deposited into the Fund
and awarded through grants to LEAs and public charter schools. However, the timing and
amount of such disbursements cannot be reasonably determined.
• The DOE will be required to add a new grant to ePlan. The one-time cost is estimated to
be $10,000 in FY25-26.
• The total increase in expenditures from the General Fund is estimated to be $10,010,000
($10,000,000 + $10,000) in FY25-26.
• The State Treasurer will be able to invest monies in the Fund and the DOE will be able to
submit the required annual report within existing resources.
CERTIFICATION:
The information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Bojan Savic, Executive Director