Louisiana school drill law

What drills does Louisiana require?

As amended by Act 821 of 2026 (in effect August 1, 2026), Louisiana law requires each public school principal to hold a safety drill that rehearses the school's emergency operations plan within the first 30 instructional days of each school year. That first drill must include an active assailant scenario. Each school year, each principal must also hold at least one more drill during high-traffic or transition points in the school day.

The state board's (BESE's) rule also requires each public school to set evacuation procedures for fire, severe weather and bomb threats, and to test them with practice drills. That provision sets no number of drills. The same rule requires procedures for special calls to police, fire departments and hospitals, also tested with practice drills. BESE's evacuation-drill rule covers fire, severe weather and bomb threats only; it names no earthquake or reunification drill. The statute's drill paragraph as amended by Act 821, and BESE's public and nonpublic school drill rules, also name no earthquake or reunification drill. The BESE rule currently in force (Bulletin 741 §339) still says the first safety drill is within the first 30 days of the school year; it has not yet been updated to Act 821's 30 instructional days.

What limits apply to drills?

Under Act 821, a drill is an operations-based exercise that tests a single emergency function, such as evacuation, lockdown or shelter-in-place. Drills may not use blanks or simulated weapons. Drills also may not involve community emergency response partners actively reenacting their response. According to the Legislature's official résumé digest, Act 821 requires school emergency preparedness exercises to be classed as either discussion-based (talked through) or operations-based (acted out).

What must be reported after each drill?

No later than seven days after each drill, the principal must send the local school superintendent a written report summarizing it. The superintendent or the emergency response coordinator must give the principal feedback on the drill, and the principal must consider that feedback when revising the plan. Each public school must also complete an annual school safety questionnaire, which asks about the school's completion of required drills. Act 821 sets no due date for the questionnaires: the school-level and district-level questionnaires go to the state Department of Education and the Center for Safe Schools at a date and frequency still to be determined. Under the BESE rule currently in force, the principal or school leader must submit the school's plan to the local superintendent, the state Department of Education (LDOE) and the Center for Safe Schools.

How must law enforcement and fire officials take part?

Each public school principal must prepare the emergency operations plan jointly with local law enforcement, fire, public safety and emergency preparedness officials. Each school year, the principal must hold a staff workshop on the plan that involves those officials and includes an active assailant exercise. This is staff training, not a student drill.

Who is covered?

The drill duty falls on each public school principal. Charter schools are subject to the same school safety law, R.S. 17:416.16. For nonpublic schools, the law requires the state board (BESE), with the Nonpublic School Commission, to adopt rules requiring their governing authorities to address school safety. Under BESE's nonpublic school rule, each nonpublic school must hold a safety drill to rehearse its emergency plan within the first 30 days of the school year. That plan must be developed jointly with local law enforcement and emergency personnel. The nonpublic drill rule sets no limit on blanks, simulated weapons or role-played responders. Act 821's limits are written into R.S. 17:416.16, whose drill duty falls on public school principals.

What about school bus drills?

Under BESE Bulletin 119, schools must organize and hold emergency drills for all students who may ride school buses. One emergency exit drill must be held during the first six weeks of each school semester. Bus drills must practice three exit methods: all out the front service door, all out the rear emergency exit, and the front half out the front with the rear half out the rear. Each semester, the designated school administrator must complete the bus drill verification form (Form T-8) and send it to the transportation office. The principal must certify that bus passenger instruction and emergency drills were completed as required.

What about fire drills?

The State Fire Marshal applies the 2015 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code to educational buildings. NFPA 101 (2015), which Louisiana's State Fire Marshal applies to educational buildings in LAC 55:V.303(A)(2), calls for at least one emergency egress drill (a practice evacuation) every month the school is in session. The same rule appears in the code's chapter for new school buildings (§ 14.7.2.3) and its chapter for existing ones (§ 15.7.2.3). Under that code, the monthly drills may be deferred only when both conditions are met: the school is in a climate where the weather is severe, and it still holds the required number of drills, with at least four held before any are deferred. State law limits the State Fire Marshal to enforcing only the fire safety requirements expressly written into adopted state or federal fire and life safety codes, and bars it from adding requirements through policy, guidance or interpretation. The State Fire Marshal's general rule names the NFPA fire codes and the International Fire Code (listed as the 2021 edition) as the materials it uses for its determinations. The 2021 International Fire Code requires emergency evacuation drills at the intervals in its Table 405.3, or more often where needed. That table sets fire and evacuation drills for schools (Group E) at monthly, with all occupants taking part. The same code requires the first evacuation drill of each school year within 10 days of the start of classes.

Must parents be told?

The school safety plan must provide for notifying parents, staff and local public safety officials when a real shooting, violent incident or emergency happens. This covers actual incidents, not drills. The drill provisions themselves set no notice to parents before or after a drill: not the statute's drill paragraph as amended by Act 821, and not BESE's public or nonpublic school drill rules. BESE's evacuation-drill rule sets no parent notice either.

What changed in 2026?

HB 624 of the 2026 Regular Session was signed by the Governor and became Act 821, effective August 1, 2026. It changed the first-drill window from the first 30 days to the first 30 instructional days, and moved that rule from paragraph (C)(1) to (C)(2). It replaced "active shooter" with "active assailant" in the drill scenario. It replaced the superintendent's duty to "comment" on each drill with a duty to "provide feedback". In the September 2026 Louisiana Register, BESE published a proposed rule to bring Bulletin 741 §339 in line with Act 821: a first drill within the first 30 instructional days with an active assailant scenario, plus at least one more drill at high-traffic or transition points. It is proposed, not final. Written comments on the proposed changes were accepted until noon, October 12, 2026.