Ohio school emergency plan law

Does Ohio require schools to have an emergency plan?

Ohio law requires each covered school administrator to develop and adopt a comprehensive emergency management plan for each building under their control.

Online learning schools must be exempted unless their students take part in in-person instruction or testing at a location without a plan. The Director of Public Safety may exempt an administrator whose buildings the requirements do not otherwise apply to.

How is the plan developed?

The administrator must examine each building's conditions and operations to identify potential hazards to student and staff safety. The plan must be developed with community law enforcement and safety officials, parents, teachers and nonteaching staff assigned to the building. Under the Department of Public Safety (DPS) rule, "community law enforcement and safety officials" covers law enforcement, fire, EMS, mental health providers, public health, school safety contacts and county emergency management. The administrator may involve the regional mobile training officer in developing the plan. The plan must carry each stakeholder's name, title, contact information and signature; a signature shows the stakeholder was offered a chance to give feedback, not that they approved the plan.

What must the plan contain?

Under the DPS rule, each plan has six parts, submitted on DPS standard forms, one of which is stakeholder signatures.

Protocols must include the procedures the administrator decides are appropriate, which can include such things as notifying law enforcement, calling emergency responders and informing parents of affected students. The plan must include procedures for notifying law enforcement, fire, EMS, emergency management, mental health and public health officials, and other outside experts. The DPS rule recommends that the plan be consistent with NIMS (the national incident management system). The plan may include temporary door locking devices only when the building official approves them, they are noted on the certificate of occupancy, and the building meets the code section the rule cites.

How often must the plan be reviewed and filed?

The yearly certification covers the plan, contact sheet, floor plan and site plan. Before each school year opens, the administrator must tell each student and parent the plan's parent notification procedures; students and parents who enroll later must be told when they enroll.

Who else gets the plan?

The plan must be filed with each law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over the school building. On request, the plan also goes to the local fire department, EMS, the county emergency management agency and the regional mobile training officer. The plan information goes to the Attorney General, who posts it on the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway.

What testing and training are tied to the plan?

Each administrator must prepare and run at least one emergency management test of the plan every year. An after-action report for each test is due to DPS within 30 days after the exercise. School safety drills under the fire code statute must be run under the school's emergency management plan, and schools must hold yearly staff training on running those drills. Districts must create a threat assessment team for each school building serving grades 6 through 12. Team members must complete approved training when appointed and every three years after that, and proof of that training must be included in the building's plan. DPS was directed to develop a model threat assessment plan that buildings may use in their plans.

Is the plan confidential?

The administrator must keep a copy of the plan in a secure place. Plans, related records, emergency management tests and required information are security records and are not public records. A floor plan filed with the Attorney General is not a public record to the extent the Attorney General keeps it.

What happens if a school doesn't comply?

The Director of Public Safety must adopt rules on plan content and filing. Failing to follow those rules may lead to licensure discipline or other action against the administrator.

What has changed recently, and what bills are pending?

The current DPS plan rule took effect September 1, 2024. HB 96 (136th General Assembly), signed June 30, 2025, added the required plan protocol on student cell phone use; its non-budget provisions generally took effect September 30, 2025. HB 184 amended the plan statute effective March 20, 2026, moving licensing of covered preschool and school-age child care programs to the Department of Children and Youth. HB 455, signed July 10, 2026, is the latest law to amend the plan statute; it took effect October 9, 2026 and struck college-preparatory boarding schools from the list of covered administrators. SB 158, a pending bill to generally ban student cell phone use in public schools, would amend the plan statute; it passed the Senate on May 14, 2025 and has been in the House Education Committee since May 21, 2025. HB 189, on a statewide behavioral threat management process for public and chartered nonpublic schools, was referred to the House Education Committee on March 26, 2025 and has had no later action. SB 463, on threat assessment teams and model behavioral threat assessment plans, was introduced July 13, 2026 and referred to the Senate Finance Committee on September 30, 2026. HB 266 (135th General Assembly), which would have required plans to include disability evacuation procedures, died in committee when that General Assembly ended.