School drill laws by state

What is a school drill law?

A school drill law tells schools which emergency drills to hold, such as fire, lockdown, severe weather and bus evacuation drills, and how often. New York, for example, requires at least twelve drills a year, eight of them evacuation drills and four of them lockdown drills. Every state and the District of Columbia requires schools to hold drills, but the duty comes from different places. In 44 states it is in a state statute (a law passed by the legislature). In Arizona, Idaho, Maine and West Virginia it comes from a state agency rule. In Colorado, the District of Columbia and Hawaii it comes from the adopted fire code. The laws also differ in which schools they reach. New York's drill law covers public and private schools. North Carolina's fire drill law covers public and private schools, but its lockdown exercise law only encourages private church schools and qualified nonpublic schools to hold one each year.

Which drills does each state require?

The table below gives the drill rules in every state and the District of Columbia as of October 26, 2026.

"Not addressed" means no confirmed state rule on that point was found; it is not proof that none exists. "None set in" names a provision that, read in full, says nothing on that point; other laws may still.

How often must schools hold lockdown drills?

Minnesota requires district and charter school crisis policies to include at least five lockdown drills, and New York requires public and private schools to hold four lockdown drills a year. Arizona's state minimum standards for school emergency plans call for three lockdown drills a year, one of them during a transition period, and Michigan requires K-12 schools to hold three drills that secure the building. Texas requires districts and open-enrollment charter schools to hold two lockdown drills a year, one per semester. Kentucky requires public schools to hold one in the first 30 instructional days and another in January, and Rhode Island requires schools with more than 25 students to hold one in September and one in January. Virginia requires public schools to hold a lockdown drill in the first 20 school days and another after the first 60 days. In Nevada, at least half of the monthly drills at public, charter and private schools must include lockdown procedures. Arkansas requires each public school district to hold one lockdown drill at each school a year, by October 15. New Jersey's fire code, the 2018 International Fire Code, New Jersey Edition, requires school buildings to hold a lockdown drill every month as one of their two monthly drills. New York requires two of its four yearly lockdown drills between September 1 and December 31, and Alabama requires each district safety coordinator to run at least one school lockdown drill each semester.

What are the fire drill rules?

Many states require a fire drill every month. Arkansas, Wisconsin and Wyoming require one at public and private schools, Delaware at public schools, and New Jersey requires one from the principal of every school of two or more rooms. North Carolina requires the principal of every public and private school to hold one each month in each building where children are assembled. State-adopted fire codes also set monthly evacuation drills in school buildings, with the first drill within 10 days of the start of classes, in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and the District of Columbia. The same International Fire Code rule, monthly evacuation drills for all occupants of school buildings with the first within 10 days of the start of classes, applies under the 2021 edition that Colorado adopts in 8 CCR 1507-101, the 2021 edition that Washington adopts in WAC 51-54A-003, the 2024 edition that Wyoming adopts in Wyo. Admin. Code 041.0002.1, and the 2015 edition that is the base of the 2018 North Carolina Fire Code. Nevada's State Fire Marshal rule, NAC 477.281, adopts the 2018 International Fire Code, which calls for monthly evacuation drills for all occupants of school buildings; Clark County's code adopts the 2024 edition, which calls for the same. In Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming, the adopted code lets the fire code official change the drill frequency in severe climates. Mississippi's State Fire Marshal rule makes the most current International Fire Code the state fire code, and its 2024 edition calls for monthly evacuation drills in school buildings, the first within 10 days of the start of classes. Where a county or city adopts its own fire code, that local code applies instead. New Jersey's fire code, the 2018 International Fire Code, New Jersey Edition, requires school buildings to hold two drills a month, one emergency evacuation drill and one lockdown drill, with all occupants taking part, and the first two evacuation drills of each school year within 10 days of the start of classes. New Jersey's 2023 rule proposal amended N.J.A.C. 5:70-3.1(a) to adopt the 2018 International Fire Code as the State Fire Prevention Code, subject to New Jersey's changes in N.J.A.C. 5:70-3.2. Other states adopt NFPA 101, the Life Safety Code. Under NFPA 101 (2015), which Illinois adopts in 41 Ill. Adm. Code 100.7(b), and NFPA 101 (2018), which Kentucky adopts in 815 KAR 10:060 and Maine in 16-219 C.M.R. ch. 20, new and existing school buildings must hold at least one emergency egress drill (a practice evacuation) each month they're in session. NFPA 101 (2015), which Louisiana adopts in LAC 55:V.303(A)(2), sets the same monthly egress drill for new and existing school buildings. Under NFPA 101 (2021), which West Virginia adopts in 87CSR1 and Rhode Island in 450-RICR-00-00-8, existing school buildings must hold at least one emergency egress drill each month they're in session, plus one more within the first 30 days of operation, except at schools open year-round. Rhode Island's Fire Safety Code also has its own school drill section, R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-28.12-36, which requires K-12 school buildings to hold at least one emergency egress drill every month they're in session, the same duty the school law sets in § 16-21-4. Hawaii's state fire code, NFPA 1 (2024), requires at least one emergency egress drill every month a school is in session, and a state amendment sets fire drills at least quarterly at high, middle and intermediate schools. In each of these NFPA codes, schools may defer the monthly drills only when both conditions are met: the climate has severe weather, and the required number of drills is still held, with at least four held before deferring. Maryland's state fire code requires a fire drill every month, or, where its criteria are met, five a year in schools fully protected by sprinklers and eight in schools that are not. Others set a yearly count. Michigan requires K-12 schools to hold at least five, Minnesota requires public and private schools to hold at least five, and Iowa and Kansas require public and private schools to hold at least four. Ohio requires public and private schools with 20 or more students to hold six fire drills or rapid dismissals a year, or nine at schools without smoke detectors or sprinklers in every classroom building. California sets fire drills by school level. The Education Code says monthly in elementary schools, at least four times a year in intermediate schools and at least twice a year in secondary schools. California's state education regulation, 5 CCR § 550, says at least monthly in elementary and intermediate schools and at least twice a year in secondary schools, so the two texts differ for intermediate schools; we don't decide which governs. In Colorado and Hawaii the fire drill duty comes from the fire code the state adopted, not a school law. Some states let another drill stand in for a fire drill. Connecticut requires a crisis response drill in place of a fire drill every three months, and Pennsylvania requires one school security drill in place of a fire drill in the first 90 days. Under NFPA 101 (2021) in Rhode Island and West Virginia, up to two of the required egress drills may instead be drills for targeted violence or natural hazards, where the authority having jurisdiction (the official who enforces the code) allows it; this is a permission, not a requirement. Colorado's and North Carolina's fire codes go the other way for lockdowns: lockdown drills follow the approved lockdown plan and can't count as the required fire and evacuation drills.

Which states require severe weather or shelter drills?

Arkansas requires public schools to hold three tornado drills a year, and Iowa requires public and private schools to hold four. Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Oklahoma call for at least two tornado drills a year, and Kansas and Oklahoma tie them to September and March. Ohio's fire code rule requires a tornado drill each month of tornado season, from March 1 to July 31. Illinois requires all schools to hold at least one severe weather and shelter-in-place drill a year, and Kentucky requires public schools to hold a severe weather drill in the first 30 instructional days and again in January. Maryland requires each local school system to hold a severe weather drill and a shelter-in-place drill every year, and Texas requires districts and open-enrollment charter schools to hold one shelter drill a year, for severe weather or hazardous materials. South Carolina requires public schools to hold two severe weather or earthquake drills a year, one each semester, and an Alabama fire marshal rule sets one severe weather drill in September to November and one in January to March. Tennessee requires each school to hold three safety drills a year that don't need a full evacuation, on top of its fire drills, but that provision names no drill types and sets no tornado or severe weather drill count.

Do schools have to tell parents before a drill?

In most states that address it, only before certain drills. New York is an exception: it requires advance notice to parents of each drill, within the week before it. Virginia requires public schools to give parents at least 24 hours' notice before any lockdown drill, without needing the exact date and time. Vermont requires notice at least one school day before an options-based response drill, and Pennsylvania requires advance notice of a school security drill. Kansas requires schools to tell parents at least 24 hours before an active shooter drill, and the notice must say the parent may opt the student out. California requires advance notice of an active-shooter drill and its length at schools whose plan includes one, Illinois requires it before student walk-through lockdown drills, and Indiana's armed intruder drill protocol must give it. New York requires notice at least one week before the emergency dismissal drill, and Connecticut will require one week's notice before each crisis response drill starting in 2027-28. New Jersey and Maryland require notice after the drill: New Jersey by the end of the school day of each security drill, and Maryland after each active-shooter drill or training. Texas requires a district to give participating students, their parents and staff notice of an optional active threat exercise at least two weeks ahead, in the parents' native language as far as practicable. In Texas (for regular drills) and Idaho, advance notice is recommended, not required. In Alabama, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, the drill provisions themselves set no parent notice.

Which states limit realistic or simulated-attacker drills?

New York requires all drills to be trauma-informed and age-appropriate, with no props, actors or simulations meant to mimic a school shooting. Full-scale exercises that use them can't run on a regular school day, and students can join only with written parent consent. New Jersey bars security drills from using fake blood, real or prop firearms, or simulated gunshots or explosions, and from making a student role-play a victim. Maryland bars active-shooter drills from using sounds that imitate gunfire and from live role-play of a shooter or victim, except in voluntary drills after school hours. Illinois bars lockdown drills that mimic an actual school shooting and allows simulated gunfire only on school days when students are not present. Rhode Island also limits simulated gunfire drills to days without students, and students can't be required to join active shooter simulations. Kansas bars active shooter simulations in crisis drills and on school property where students in grades K-8 regularly attend, and students opted out of an active shooter drill must be offered other safety education and can't be penalized for it. Texas's drill rule says required drills do not include role-played active aggressors or other simulated threats, and Missouri requires its student active shooter exercise to be age-appropriate. California bars high-intensity active-shooter drills and the use of real weapons, blanks or explosions, and lets parents opt their children out. Louisiana bars blanks and simulated weapons in drills. In Indiana, an armed intruder drill with simulated gunfire or prop firearms can't require students and can't run during school hours when most students are on site. Washington bars live active shooter reenactments in lockdown drills unless they are trauma-informed and age-appropriate. Connecticut will bar active assailant simulations and realistic simulated violence in crisis response drills with students, starting in 2027-28. In Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin, the drill provisions themselves set no limits on realistic drills.

Do schools have to report drills to the state?

Some states require it. Georgia requires school systems to report finished intruder alert drills to the state emergency management agency, and Vermont requires superintendents to report the twice-yearly drills to the Agency of Education. Pennsylvania requires the chief school administrator to certify by April 10 that bus evacuation and school security drills were held, and Kentucky requires superintendents to verify to the education department by November 1 that their schools follow the drill law. North Carolina requires public school units to report the date and time of the yearly drill to the Center for Safer Schools, and Wisconsin requires schools to report the dates of their school violence drills to the Office of School Safety. Arkansas requires superintendents to submit data verifying drills were completed, and New Jersey requires districts to track drill data and report it to the education commissioner. Delaware requires schools to send verification of each exercise to the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, and Ohio requires schools to certify their school safety drill dates to local law enforcement by December 5. Connecticut's state school safety plan standards require each board of education to report the types, frequency and feedback of its fire and crisis response drills to its regional coordinator by July 1 each year. Indiana requires each school corporation or private school to report its bus evacuation drill records to the Department of Education by June 30, and New York requires school authorities to certify on their annual report that the district followed the bus drill rules. Maryland requires each private school to keep records of its fire drills and send a copy to the State Board of Education. Oklahoma's state board rule requires districts to send written drill records for each school site to the Oklahoma School Security Institute. From July 1, 2026, Maryland's yearly local school system report to the state school safety center must include school hours spent in emergency drills. Others require schools to keep drill records: Washington requires a record of each drill's date, time and type, and Wisconsin requires records kept for at least 7 years. Under their adopted fire codes, Alaska, Oregon and South Dakota require records of each evacuation drill. Tennessee requires a record of every safety drill, with its time and date, kept in the school office and shown to the state fire marshal on request.

Do these laws cover private schools?

Often, yes. Illinois, New York, Nevada, Minnesota and New Mexico apply their drill rules to private schools as well as public ones. Fire drill laws in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Wyoming name public and private schools, and Ohio's school safety drill duty covers every public or private school. Tennessee requires private and church-related schools to hold the yearly armed intruder drill, and Vermont requires approved independent schools to adopt a drill policy. North Carolina requires monthly fire drills at public and private schools, and California requires earthquake drop drills in private school buildings with room for 50 or more students or with more than one classroom. Louisiana requires nonpublic schools to hold a safety drill in the first 30 days of the school year, and Pennsylvania requires licensed private academic schools to hold monthly fire drills. Maryland requires each private school to hold fire drills under the State Fire Prevention Code. Ohio's Legislative Service Commission, the legislature's nonpartisan staff, reads the state's fire, tornado and school safety drill law as also reaching community (charter) schools. Michigan's drill law leaves only colleges and universities out of its definition of a school, and the state's school fire safety rules cover private school buildings. Other rules stop at public schools. Florida's drill rule leaves out private schools, and the Texas rule and Arkansas's lockdown drill law cover districts and open-enrollment charter schools. Montana's list of what a private school must do for its students to be excused from public school enrollment includes no drill requirement. The drill statutes in Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina don't name private schools, and North Carolina only encourages private church schools and qualified nonpublic schools to hold a yearly school-wide lockdown exercise.

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