Arkansas school mapping law

Does Arkansas require school floor plans?

Yes, for public schools. Arkansas Code § 6-15-1303(c)(1) says that on or before October 1, 2021, a public school shall provide current floor plans and pertinent emergency contact information to appropriate first responders. That provision names only "a public school", so it puts no floor-plan duty on private schools. DESE (the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education) must write rules describing how it will verify that schools meet the floor-plan and update duties. Under the DESE rule, a public school district must provide current floor plans and pertinent emergency contact information to appropriate first responders for each school in the district. For that rule, "public school district" includes an open-enrollment public charter school.

How often must the floor plans be updated?

Public school administration must provide updated information every year, and also when substantial building modifications or changes are made. The DESE rule repeats that duty for district administration.

Who receives the floor plans, and who checks?

The floor plans go to appropriate first responders. The superintendent must submit written verification, as DESE requires, that the floor plans and information were provided to appropriate first responders. A separate statute, § 6-10-125, lets a district file a copy of its floor plan with the emergency management coordinator for its local or interjurisdictional emergency management office. This is allowed, not required. When a district does file one there, the coordinator must make sure it is available at the 911 public safety communications center and at that emergency management office. For that optional filing, § 6-10-125 defines a floor plan as including a schematic drawing of each public school's facilities and property, showing the layout of rooms, spaces and other physical features of the buildings.

Does Arkansas link floor plans to 911 calls?

Any panic button alert system must integrate directly into the existing statewide Smart911 system. That Smart911 system must let a public school geo-fence its campus and provide and manage floor plans that display to emergency responders during a 911 call. ADE (the Arkansas Department of Education) has said § 6-15-1302(a) requires a way to reach law enforcement in an emergency only if funding is available, and that it does not have to be a panic button alert system. ADE has also said the state's contract with Rave Wireless ended June 30, 2020, and that no state funding would go specifically to panic button alert systems in the 2022-23 school year.

Are the floor plans confidential?

Floor plan and emergency contact information provided under § 6-15-1303(c) is not a public record and is not available for public inspection. The DESE rule adds that it is not available for inspection under the Freedom of Information Act of 1967.

Is there state funding?

The 2025 School Safety Grant list of approved expenses includes numbering classroom surfaces so first responders can identify rooms; it has no floor-plan or mapping item.

Has the law changed recently?

The original 2015 law (Act 950) required schools to provide floor plans and emergency contacts by September 1, 2015, through the statewide Smart911 system. Since the 2023 LEARNS Act, the only changes to § 6-15-1303 are to subsection (d)(3)(A), by Acts 340 and 341 of 2025; the floor-plan subsection was not amended in the 2025 regular session, the 2026 fiscal session or the 2026 first extraordinary session. HB1492 of 2025, a mobile panic alert bill, did not become law: the author withdrew it on April 14, 2025, and it was recommended for interim study on April 16, 2025.