South Carolina school mapping law

Who has to create school maps in South Carolina?

The FY 2026-27 Appropriations Act sets up the School Mapping Data Program inside the State Department of Education. Subject to funding, the department shall contract with a vendor to provide school mapping data for each public school in the state. The duty sits in proviso 1.104, part of the ratified FY 2026-27 general appropriations bill (a provision in the yearly state budget act). "School mapping data" means electronic or digital information collected under the proviso to help first responders in school emergencies. Under state law, a charter school, including one in the South Carolina Public Charter School District, counts as a public school, so it falls within "each public school in the State".

Who receives the maps?

The mapping data must be provided to each school district, local law enforcement agency and public safety agency, for use in emergencies. The proviso says emergencies include any event where police, firefighters, rescue squads, EMS, public safety telecommunicators (911 dispatchers) or other emergency management providers may respond. The department said access to the vendor's maps is strictly limited to law enforcement and emergency management partners.

What must the maps show?

The data must include accurate floor plans laid over current, verified aerial imagery of the campus. Building labels must match the school's structure: room labels, hallway names, external door or stairwell numbers, and the locations of hazards, critical utilities, key boxes, AEDs and trauma kits. Grounds labels must include parking areas, athletic fields, surrounding roads and neighboring properties. The maps must be oriented true north and overlaid with a gridded x and y coordinate system. The entity producing the data must check it for accuracy with a walk-through of the school buildings and grounds.

What format do the maps have to be in?

The data must work with the software platforms that local, county, state and federal public safety agencies serving the school already use, without those agencies buying extra software or paying a fee to view it. It must also work with the school's own security software platforms, again without extra software purchases or access fees. It must be printable and, if requested, come in a digital file that can be used on interactive mobile platforms.

How often are the maps updated, and who pays?

The data must be kept updated and accessible within the software platforms used by public safety agencies serving the school. The floor plans and aerial imagery must be updated by the department as it considers necessary. Each school district must pay an annual maintenance fee to keep its school floor plans and aerial imagery accurate and up to date. The fee may not exceed $650 per school.

Are school maps public records?

School mapping data is not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Separately, the Freedom of Information Act requires information about a public body's security plans and devices to be closed to the public, other than the amounts spent on them.

How long has the program run, and is it in place?

The FY 2025-26 budget carried the same School Mapping Data Program proviso as 1.110, and the FY 2024-25 budget carried it as 1.116. The FY 2026-27 budget bill, H. 5126, was ratified on August 11, 2026. The Governor vetoed certain items on August 17, 2026. None of the Department of Education provisos the Governor vetoed is proviso 1.104, so the mapping proviso stands. The vetoed FY 2026-27 proviso 1.110 is about assessments and grading, not mapping. In August 2025, the department said CRG would visit every public school to build current maps with floor plans, key landmarks and aerial views, and planned to have the program at every school by early 2026. That was a stated plan, not a legal deadline.

What about colleges and recent bills?

Act No. 160 of 2026 (H. 5179), effective May 15, 2026, set up a separate School Mapping Data Program within SLED (the State Law Enforcement Division) for institutions of higher learning only. Under that act, public colleges must review campus facilities at least once every two years, and a public body holding the college mapping data may not disclose it in response to a FOIA request. The FY 2026-27 budget lists $1,000,000 for a Higher Education Campus Mapping Data Program under SLED. That is college money, not K-12 money. H. 4740, a 2025-26 companion bill, would place a college mapping program under the Commission on Higher Education. Two 2024 K-12 mapping bills were not enacted: S. 1160 passed the Senate and was last referred to a House committee, and H. 5144 passed the House and was last referred to the Senate Education Committee on April 10, 2024. H. 3258 (2025-26), a mobile panic alert bill that would have districts use the state's school mapping data program, was last amended in the Senate on April 1, 2026 and has not been enacted.