Arizona school emergency plan law

Who must have an emergency response plan in Arizona?

Arizona law requires each school district governing board to develop an emergency response plan for each school, working with local law enforcement and emergency response agencies and following minimum standards set jointly by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA). Each charter school's charter must ensure the school develops an emergency response plan for each school in the same way, under the same ADE/DEMA minimum standards. Both the district and the charter plan must address how the school and emergency responders will communicate with and help students with disabilities. Districts and charter schools that receive School Safety Program money must develop an emergency response plan as one of two duties tied to that money.

What do the ADE/DEMA minimum requirements ask for?

ADE and DEMA jointly adopted the 2026 Minimum Requirements for school emergency operations plans (EOPs), signed August 20, 2026; they replace all earlier editions. The document says all local education agencies shall follow it and use the ADE EOP Template, and that charter schools must keep an EOP for each school site.

The document states no effective or compliance date of its own, only the August 20, 2026 signature dates. ADE's August 20, 2026 letter names March 1, 2027 for moving to the ADE EOP Template and July 1, 2027 for putting the Standard Response Protocol in place, framed as transition targets. The Auditor General states that the August 2026 standards take effect in March 2027 and will require schools to build their EOPs on the ADE/DEMA template from then.

How often must the plan be reviewed?

The 2026 Minimum Requirements say the EOP, its annexes and supporting documents must be reviewed and updated every year, and the ICS chart every year and whenever staffing changes. Within one week of a drill or incident, schools must complete an After Action Review and Improvement Plan that feeds into plan revisions, according to the same document. By law, districts and charter schools in the School Safety Program must, every five years, hire an approved provider for a school safety assessment that includes a review of each school site's emergency response plan.

Is the plan shared with first responders?

The 2026 Minimum Requirements say schools must record each date the EOP is given to local response agencies, and give it out again after any update. They also say schools must work with local emergency management, fire, law enforcement and public health agencies when writing, revising, training on or exercising the EOP. School Safety Program proposals to fund school resource officers, juvenile probation officers or school safety officers, or school counselors or social workers, must include the items the statute lists. Those proposals must include a plan to give current blueprints, floor plans and safety assessments for each school site to the local police, EMS provider and fire department. This applies to program applicants only, not to every school. As of October 2026, ADE had not set up the yearly process the Auditor General recommended for schools to send information each year to relevant law enforcement and emergency response agencies.

What training is tied to the plan?

The 2026 Minimum Requirements say all staff must be trained on the EOP, emergency procedures and their roles. Staff with ICS roles must complete FEMA courses IS-100.C and IS-200.C within one year of being assigned, and approved training at least once every three years.

Is the plan confidential?

School building blueprints and floor plans are not public records and are exempt from Arizona's public records law. That exemption, A.R.S. 15-154(O), covers only blueprints and floor plans; it does not name the emergency response plan. A.R.S. 41-1803(G) makes confidential only critical infrastructure information protected by a 2002 federal law; it does not name school emergency plans. A school board may go into a closed (executive) session only for listed purposes and after a public majority vote of a quorum. One listed purpose is discussing school safety operations or school safety plans, so a board may discuss its safety plans in closed session. Minutes and discussions of closed sessions must be kept confidential, with listed exceptions.

How is it checked?

Every three years, ADE must assess a random sample of districts and charter schools in the School Safety Program and share the results; the section sets no penalty. In a December 2024 report, the Auditor General found that none of the school EOPs it reviewed fully met the state's minimum standards. Most reviewed plans met fewer than half of the tested standards, and some charter schools had no EOP. The Auditor General recommended that ADE work out the staff and resources needed to start checking compliance. As of the Auditor General's October 2026 follow-up, no statewide process to monitor school EOP compliance had been developed.

What changed recently?

HB 2074 (2025), signed by the governor and enacted as Laws 2025, Chapter 129, added A.R.S. 15-154.02 on emergency response plans and school safety assessments. It was filed with the Secretary of State on May 6, 2025, and took effect on the 2025 general effective date, September 26, 2025. HB 2142 (2026) would have provided technical assistance for writing emergency response plans; it passed the House on March 3, 2026 but failed in the Senate on third reading on June 12, 2026, and was not enacted. HB 4109 (2026) would have let a district meet a new public safety policy duty through its emergency response plan; it was held in the Senate and not enacted. SB 1315 (2026), on interoperable communications (radio systems that work across agencies) in public schools, was vetoed. SB 1131 (2026), introduced as "cardiac emergency response plans; schools", was held in the House and not enacted.