Alyssa's Law in Tennessee
Tennessee law requires district-wide and building-level school safety teams to consider including a mobile panic alert system in their safety plans. It does not require them to install one. A separate grant pilot helps schools buy these systems.
Every fact checked against the official source by an independent reviewer · Last verified October 25, 2026
What does the Tennessee law require?
Safety teams "shall consider" including a mobile panic alert system in their safety plans. The system described must integrate with local 911 (PSAP) infrastructure to send 911 calls and mobile activations. It must be able to connect different emergency services technologies so multiple first responder agencies can coordinate in real time. Each district and public charter school must review its safety plans every year.
Who is covered?
The safety plan duty applies to each local education agency and, to the extent applicable, each public charter school. The grant pilot is open to districts, public charter schools, private schools and church-related schools.
How does the grant pilot work?
The Department of Education must set up and run a school safety alert grant pilot program. Each grant is capped at $8,000 per school per fiscal year. Subject to appropriation, two schools in each of Tennessee's three grand divisions must receive grant funding. Alert systems bought with the grants must be approved by the Department of Education in consultation with the Department of Safety.
The department's FY27 grant package says the $48,000 grant recurs every year and is awarded first come, first served. In FY2026, 82 public, public charter and non-public schools applied, and six schools received awards, two in each grand region.
Bill and statute history
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Safety plan law | HB 322 (113th General Assembly), Public Chapter 367, signed May 10, 2023, effective July 1, 2023 |
| Statute | Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-804(a), replaced in full by Public Chapter 367 |
| Grant pilot law | HB 2528 (113th General Assembly), Public Chapter 994, signed May 21, 2024, effective July 1, 2024 |
| Grant statute | Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-225 |
| Did not pass | HB 290 (2025) would have made the pilot a statewide program; it was withdrawn February 3, 2025 |
How can QuickSecure help?
Panic, the QuickSecure mobile app, lets any staff member raise an Alert from a phone. Schools start with Lockdown, Fire, Medical and Admin Alerts, each with its response workflow already built, and can add their own Alert types with their own workflows.
Schools can also add a physical panic button.
Each school sets how every Alert type behaves: silent or announced, a critical alert or a normal notification, whether it also sends email and text messages, and how it looks, down to its color, icon and wording.
Dispatch sends the Alert straight to 911 through RapidSOS, with one confirmation step. Each school chooses which Alert types call 911.
Mass notifications lets a school choose how each message goes out: app notifications, critical alerts, text messages or email.
Nexus holds campus maps and floor plans, plus details such as where the AEDs are, who is on site, which class each person is in and their status, and responders can see them during an Alert.
Drill management runs practice drills through the same workflow as a real Alert, so in a real emergency every step is already familiar and nobody stops to second-guess it. A drill never sends a real Dispatch.
This is not a statement that any product satisfies Tennessee law or is approved for the grant pilot.