HOUSE BILL 505
By Gant
SENATE BILL 695
By Johnson
SB0695
002481
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49
and Chapter 994 of the Public Acts of 2024,
relative to school safety alert grants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-225, is amended by deleting the
section and substituting the following:
(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Fund" means the school safety alert grant fund for First Alert
Systems, as created by this section; and
(2) "Local education agency" or "LEA" means a county, city, or special
school district, unified school district, or school district of a metropolitan
government.
(b)
(1) The department of education shall establish and administer a school
safety alert grant pilot program. The purpose of the pilot program is to award
school safety grants to LEAs, public charter schools, private schools, and church-
related schools for the purchase of mobile panic alert systems described in ยง 49-
6-804(a). The alert systems funded through the pilot program must be approved
by the department of education, in consultation with the department of safety.
(2) Effective July 1, 2025, the school safety alert grant pilot program
created pursuant to subdivision (b)(1) is renamed the school safety alert grant
program. The department of education shall continue to administer the grant
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program for the same purpose, and subject to the same approval requirement, as
described in subdivision (b)(1).
(c)
(1) There is created a separate fund within the general fund to be known
as the school safety alert grant pilot fund.
(2) There is created a separate fund within the general fund to be known
as the school safety alert grant fund. Effective July 1, 2025, funds remaining in
the school safety alert grant pilot fund must be transferred to the school safety
alert grant fund, at which time the school safety alert grant pilot fund ceases to
exist.
(d)
(1) Subject to appropriations and the availability of funds, the department
shall allocate and disperse grants for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 to
LEAs, public charter schools, private schools, and church-related schools.
(2) The grants must be awarded as follows:
(A) The first grant must be awarded on a first-come, first-served
basis to the first LEA or school that applies;
(B) The second grant must be awarded on a first-come, first-
served basis to an LEA or school that is located in a different grand
division of this state than the recipient of the grant awarded under
subdivision (d)(2)(A);
(C) The third grant must be awarded on a first-come, first-served
basis to an LEA or school that is located in a different grand division of
this state than the recipients of the grants awarded under subdivisions
(d)(2)(A) and (d)(2)(B); and
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(D) The fourth and any subsequent grants must be awarded on a
first-come, first-served basis to an LEA or school that is located in a grand
division of this state, following the order of awards as established under
subdivisions (d)(2)(A)-(C).
(3) A grant awarded under this section is limited to eight thousand dollars
($8,000) per school in a fiscal year.
(e) The commissioner of education may promulgate rules to effectuate the
purposes of this section in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act,
compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
(f) By July 1, 2026, and by July 1, 2027, the department shall prepare and
submit to the general assembly a report detailing all funds received and payments made
through the school safety alert grant fund.
(g) This section is deleted July 1, 2027.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.