Illinois school emergency plan law
What Illinois requires of school emergency operations plans: who writes one, what goes in it, and how often it's reviewed.
Every fact checked against the official source by an independent reviewer · Last verified October 26, 2026
What does Illinois require of school emergency plans?
Under the School Safety Drill Act, each public school district, through its school board or the board's designee, must hold at least one meeting a year to review each school building's emergency and crisis response plans. The state rule (29 Ill. Adm. Code 1500) describes each school's emergency and crisis response plan as required by Section 25 of the Act. After the review, the board or its designee must sign a report stating that the district will implement the buildings' emergency and crisis response plans during the school year. A school building's plan must include a plan for local law enforcement to rapidly enter the building in an emergency.
Who must have a plan?
The Act defines "school" to include public and private facilities offering elementary or secondary education to students under 21. "School district" includes charter schools authorized by ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) under Section 27A-7.5. Each location of a multi-location school counts as its own school under the Act. Private schools have their own duty: each must hold at least one meeting a year to review each building's emergency and crisis response plans, including its cardiac emergency response plan.
What must the plan contain?
The rule lists the plan components the annual review checks. The review report must say whether each one is present and up to date, and describe any revisions needed.
| Component | What the rule lists | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Roles | Defined roles and responsibilities, with a chain of command and a designated back-up for each role | 29 Ill. Adm. Code 1500.20(a)(1) |
| Communication | Who communicates with first responders, building occupants, families, the media and the community | 1500.20(a)(1)(D) |
| Hazards | At least severe weather, fire, bomb threats or suspicious items, structural failure, utility failure, bus accidents, hazardous materials, an intruder or weapon use or hostage-taking, public health or medical emergencies, and earthquakes | 1500.20(a)(2) |
| Nuclear plants | Nuclear power plant accidents, for schools within 25 miles of one | 1500.20(a)(2)(K) |
| Reunification | Ways to account for all children and the process for releasing students to parents and others | 1500.20(a)(3)(B) |
| Supplies | Emergency supplies such as first aid kits, food, water, emergency lighting and radios | 1500.20(a)(3)(D) |
| Site information | Hazard analyses, area maps, site plans and safety reference plans | 1500.20(b)(2) |
| Training | The training and materials used so administrators, staff and students know the warning signals and what to do | 1500.20(b)(1) |
School districts and private schools must also develop a cardiac emergency response plan, and it must be given to all teachers, administrators, support staff, coaches and other identified staff at each school. Each district must make sure maps of all school exits are prominently displayed in every classroom. By July 1, 2027, each district must develop hazardous substance release procedures for each school, working with its local emergency planning committee or emergency services and disaster agency. A district does not have to develop those procedures until the school year after the state guidance is published on ISBE's website. By the start of the 2028-2029 school year, districts and private schools must consider using a mobile panic alert system when developing their plans (Alyssa's Law).
How often is the plan reviewed?
The review must happen at least once each fiscal year, at a time the district superintendent chooses. Its purpose is to review and update the district's and each building's plans, and it must be at no cost to the district. The annual review also covers the district's threat assessment team procedures, hazardous substance release procedures, cardiac emergency response plan procedures, how well law enforcement drills worked, and each building's drill compliance.
Is the plan submitted, and to whom?
After the review, the board or its designee must sign a one-page report, in check-off or narrative form. The report certifies that an effective review of the district's and each building's plans took place, and summarizes the recommended changes to the existing safety and drill plans. The board sends a copy to each participating party and to the regional superintendent of schools. Regional superintendents' annual compliance reports are due to ISBE on or before October 1 each year. ISBE must set up how reports are filed and tell regional superintendents and private schools how to file them. Each year before school starts, the school board must file its threat assessment procedure and team list with local law enforcement and the regional office of education.
How do schools work with police, fire and emergency management?
The board or its designee must take part in the annual review and give each invited party at least 30 days' notice. Districts must invite representatives of all local first responder organizations to take part in, advise on and consult on the review. Required invitees include the local EMS agency, if it is a separate first responder unit, and the emergency services and disaster agency or local emergency planning committee. Private schools must also invite all local first responder organizations to their annual review. Each district's threat assessment team must include at least one law enforcement official. When updating plans, districts may consider making them available to first responders, administrators and teachers through electronic apps; this is optional.
What training goes with the plan?
Districts must train all substitute staff on school evacuation drills and law enforcement lockdown drills. Starting July 1, 2027, each district must hold a yearly cardiac response drill on its cardiac emergency response plan; it may be run with local EMS and without students. From the same date, the cardiac plan must include staff education on the warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest, hands-only CPR and AED use, and each AED listed in it must be clearly marked, maintained as the manufacturer recommends and easy to reach.
Is the plan confidential?
The Act makes one category confidential: crisis response mapping data obtained through the state grant program is confidential and exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The Act allows applications to ISBE for grants to get crisis response mapping data and share it with first responders.
How is it checked?
Each year, ISBE reports to the Governor and the State Fire Marshal on district and private school compliance with the annual review. ISBE and the State Fire Marshal must develop guidelines for districts, private schools and first responders on how to develop school emergency and crisis response plans. ISBE posts a FEMA-developed sample school emergency operations plan to help schools write or revise theirs.
What changed recently?
SB0071 (P.A. 104-344) amended Sections 5, 10, 15 and 25 of the School Safety Drill Act and added Section 65, on hazardous substance releases. Section 25, the annual review, was last amended by P.A. 104-344, effective January 1, 2026. Section 42 (mobile panic alert systems, Alyssa's Law) takes effect January 1, 2027, under P.A. 104-789. Once a school uses a mobile panic alert system under Section 42, it must be integrated with the local 911 center and tested with it and first responder agencies at least once a year. Before buying one, each district and private school must coordinate with its local 9-1-1 authority and pay any 911 center connection costs. The Illinois State Police must write rules by March 1, 2027, for a mobile panic alert system to count as an "Alyssa's Alert". Section 40 was last amended by P.A. 104-407, effective August 15, 2025; it has ISBE, working with the Illinois State Police, adopt rules to carry out that act. The emergency rulemaking power for those rules repealed itself on August 15, 2026. The plan rule (29 Ill. Adm. Code 1500) was adopted effective August 18, 2006. P.A. 104-759 adds civil immunity for acts or omissions related to the cardiac plan requirements, starting July 1, 2027. SB1946 would require entities that receive crisis response mapping data to give copies to first responders; its last action was referral to Assignments on February 6, 2025. HB5320, which would require a trauma-informed discussion after lockdown drills, was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on March 27, 2026, its last action.
How can QuickSecure help?
SOPs keeps your emergency operations plan and procedures in one place, and staff can open them from their phones.
Each procedure keeps its version history, so you can see what changed and when.
You choose which roles can see each procedure, and staff confirm they've read it, so you can see who has.
During an Alert, your procedures become step-by-step checklists for each staff member.
This is not a statement that any product satisfies Illinois's requirements; that reading belongs to your district and its counsel.