Alabama school security camera law

Do Alabama schools have to have security cameras?

Each local board may provide, place, operate and maintain video cameras in each self-contained classroom where at least half of the students receive special education services, if the funding is available. This is allowed, not required. If a specific donation is made to a local board for placing and operating these cameras, the board must install them. A self-contained classroom is a public K-12 classroom where at least half of the students in regular attendance receive special education services. The classroom camera section was enacted by Act 2023-527 (SB56 of 2023).

What rules apply to special-education classroom cameras?

The cameras must record audio and video during school hours and at any time a student is in the classroom. A camera may not monitor a restroom or any other area where a student changes clothes. Each local board must give written notice to the parent or guardian of every student assigned to a classroom where cameras are installed. The board must keep all recordings for at least three months after the date of recording. If that window runs across the break between two instructional terms, it is extended by the number of days between the terms. When an incident has been reported, the recordings must be kept until all related investigations and administrative and legal proceedings are complete. The recordings may not be used for routine teacher evaluations. They may not be used for regular or continued monitoring of a classroom, including a live stream.

Who may view the recordings?

Recordings of students made under the classroom camera law are confidential and may not be released or viewed except as the statute allows. Law enforcement officers and state agency officials investigating a reported incident of abuse, neglect, harassment or other inappropriate behavior are among those who may view them. The board must conceal any uninvolved student who appears in a recording, for example by blurring their face. Before a hearing on a long-term suspension, long-term alternative-school placement or expulsion, the student, parent or guardian, and their counsel or advocate may review any audio or video recording of the incident at least five days ahead.

Do police get access to school camera feeds?

Each district safety coordinator must work with the local board to adopt policies on sharing camera data and remote access control with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. That section is a duty to adopt sharing policies; it does not require schools to give law enforcement, 911 centers or real-time crime centers live or recorded access to camera feeds.

Are cameras part of Alabama's school security standards?

The State Board's school security inspection rubric must include standards for security cameras. Each local board's school facilities must be inspected against the school security criteria by at least one school security inspector. Security rubric ratings, and the records used to set them, are confidential and are not public records. The School Security Act (chapter 16-22B) applies to public K-12 schools.

Does Alabama limit facial recognition?

State and local law enforcement may not use a facial recognition match as the sole basis for probable cause or an arrest. This is a general policing rule, not one written for schools.

How can schools pay for cameras?

The Education Trust Fund budget gave the Cameras in the Classroom Grant Program $500,000 for FY2025, $500,000 for FY2026 and $600,000 for FY2027. The grant money is to be spent under the classroom camera statute, § 16-39-13, and can pay for buying, installing, maintaining and monitoring classroom video cameras. For FY2027, priority goes to schools with financial challenges and/or high percentages of nonverbal children. The State Board may also award grants from the School Security and Fire Safety Fund to help local boards meet the school security criteria.