Minnesota school emergency plan law

What does Minnesota require of school emergency plans?

Minn. Stat. § 121A.035 requires each school board and charter school to adopt a crisis management policy to address potential violent crisis situations; the law calls it a policy, not an emergency operations plan. The commissioner of education must keep a model crisis management policy, including cardiac emergency response plans and lockdown and tornado drills, and make it available to school boards and charter schools.

Who must have a plan?

The duty falls on school boards and charter schools. Private schools not subject to § 121A.035 must hold at least five lockdown drills, five fire drills and one tornado drill under § 121A.037.

What must the policy contain?

The crisis management policy must include at least five lockdown drills, five fire drills and one tornado drill. Adopting the commissioner's model cardiac emergency response plan is optional for school boards and charter schools. State guidance from DPS (Department of Public Safety) recommends that school plans address a wide range of hazards, and describes threat assessment as a way to identify anyone who may pose a threat; this is guidance, not a statutory element.

How do schools work with police, fire and emergency management?

The policy must be developed cooperatively with school staff, students, parents, the community, law enforcement, emergency management officials, county attorneys, social service agencies and emergency medical responders.

Is the policy confidential?

The crisis management policy statute says nothing about whether the policy is confidential or exempt from public records. Minnesota's general Data Practices Act classifies "security information" as nonpublic data; that general provision does not name school crisis policies. A district that denies a records request on security information grounds must, if asked, give a short explanation of why the classification is needed. The Commissioner of Administration has advised that government entities must judge the security information classification case by case.

What state help is there?

The Minnesota School Safety Center at DPS is a non-regulatory program. DPS says its Comprehensive School Safety Guide is being updated and points schools to SchoolSafety.gov resources in the meantime.

What changed recently?

The 2024 Legislature (2024 c 115 art 2 s 7) amended § 121A.035 to add cardiac emergency response plans to the model policy. Section 121A.035 was not amended in 2025 or 2026; the Revisor's table lists only the 2006 and 2024 amendments. A 2026 law (2026 c 117) requires each district and charter school board to adopt an anonymous threat reporting system policy by June 30, 2027, and to put a local or the statewide system in place by July 1, 2028. Information about a district's local threat reporting system is classified as security information. The 2026 Legislature set aside $4,000,000 in fiscal year 2027 for grants to schools for anonymous threat reporting systems. HF 3485 and its Senate companion SF 3717 (2026) would have required the crisis policy to provide for students with disabilities, sensory needs and mental health needs; neither got action after committee referral on February 19, 2026, other than authors added, and neither was enacted. HF 5018 (2026) would have required each district and charter school board to adopt an evidence-based school safety plan, integrated with the crisis policy where practical, while nonpublic schools would only have been encouraged to write one. It would also have required boards that had not yet adopted such a plan to submit it to the School Safety Center beginning August 1, 2028, and every year after. HF 5018's only recorded action was referral to the House Education Finance committee on April 20, 2026, and it was not enacted. The 2026 session, the last of the 94th Legislature's two-year term, ended May 18, 2026.