New Jersey school mapping law

Does New Jersey require schools to share maps with police?

Yes. N.J.S.A. 18A:41-7.1 requires each school district board of education, and each nonpublic school's chief school administrator, to give local law enforcement critical incident mapping data (digital maps and building details for first responders). Charter school and renaissance school project boards of trustees have the same duty. The mapping data must cover all schools and school grounds.

What must the mapping data show?

The law defines critical incident mapping data as electronic or digital information to help first responders in an emergency. It includes aerial images of schools. It includes floor plans with room and suite numbers. It includes building access points. It includes the locations of hazardous materials and utility shut-offs.

What format must the maps be in?

The mapping data must be compatible with all platforms and applications used by local, State and federal law enforcement. It must be provided in a printable format. The law does not require police to open the mapping data through third-party viewing software.

Who receives the maps?

The data goes to local law enforcement. Where a school sits in a town with no municipal police department, the data goes to an entity the Superintendent of State Police designates. The statute names only those recipients; it does not name fire, EMS, 911 centers or emergency management. Under the Uniform State Memorandum of Agreement between education and law enforcement, approved by the state's Department of Law & Public Safety and Department of Education, the chief school administrator agrees to give police current copies of blueprints and maps of all schools and grounds. The state's 2011 school safety plan checklist lists access to district facility maps or blueprints for local law enforcement and emergency responders as a plan item.

How often must the maps be updated?

Schools must send revised mapping data to the police or designated entity any time the data changes. The data must be checked for accuracy through an annual walkthrough of school buildings and grounds. Under the Memorandum of Agreement, revised blueprint and map copies go to police as soon as practicable after any change. In May 2023 the Governor's office said that, once every school's schematics were collected, local law enforcement would do the annual walkthroughs.

Are school maps confidential?

The mapping statute itself has no confidentiality or public-records provision. Separately, New Jersey's Open Public Records Act (OPRA) leaves out of "government record" emergency or security information for buildings whose release would jeopardize the security of the building or the people in it.

Has the state paid for school mapping?

In August 2022 the state announced $6.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to collect and digitize school building blueprints for first responders. At that time, the Governor's office said first responders had Collaborative Response Graphics (CRG) for about 1,500 of the state's 3,000 public and private schools. The initiative was meant to help the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and the State Police map the remaining 1,500 schools. In May 2023 the Governor's office said the State Police had contracted with a vendor to collect updated school maps and upload them to a database. It also announced about $5.79 million more in federal funds for critical incident mapping, drawn from leftover CRRSA and ARP emergency assistance funds for nonpublic schools (EANS). The state's Securing Our Children's Future Bond Act defines a school security project as construction or physical improvement work; that definition does not name mapping data or floor plans.

How has the law changed?

The original law, P.L.2019, c.106, approved May 10, 2019, required schools to give local police a copy of current blueprints and maps for all schools and grounds. P.L.2022, c.122, approved November 30, 2022, replaced that with the critical incident mapping data duty; its official synopsis says it requires public and nonpublic schools to submit that data to local law enforcement. The 2022 amendment first applied to the first full school year after it was enacted.