Delaware school security camera law

Do Delaware schools have to have security cameras?

The school board of each district "shall have authority" to set up and run programs that use video cameras for surveillance on public school property. This is an authority, not a duty. Cameras may be used in places including classrooms, halls, auditoriums, cafeterias, gymnasiums and parking areas, to monitor student behavior and help keep students and teachers safe. The section, 14 Del. C. § 4121 ("Video cameras on public school property"), was enacted by 70 Del. Laws c. 377. A new school or major renovation covered by § 2306(b) must include a secured entrance vestibule with an intercom or a video call box; an intercom alone meets the rule, so it is not a surveillance camera requirement.

What limits apply to school cameras?

A camera may be used for classroom surveillance only if the school's principal and the classroom's teacher both consent. Before using this authority, a school board must adopt rules on how cameras are used in classrooms. Cameras may never be used at any time or place that would violate a student's reasonable expectation of privacy, including locker rooms, areas where students may undress, and restrooms. Section 4121 sets no rule on signs or notice, audio recording, or how long footage is kept.

Who is covered?

Charter schools are exempt from the education title, which includes § 4121, except Chapter 31 and provisions that say otherwise, though a charter school may choose to follow any of them.

Do police get access to school camera feeds?

Section 4121 says nothing about giving police, 911 centers or real-time crime centers live or recorded access to school camera video. The FY2026 and FY2027 bond acts each provide up to $160,000 to the Delaware State Police, State Bureau of Identification, for the Real-Time Crime Center application to improve safety in and around schools. The acts do not say whether that application takes in school camera feeds.

How long must footage be kept?

Delaware Public Archives schedules set the minimum time records must be kept; a different period set by another state or federal law governs instead. Under the school district schedule, "incident" security videos are kept for three years; other security video is kept for the longest time the recording system allows or 30 days, whichever is longer, then reused. No public employee may destroy a public record without first telling the Delaware Public Archives and getting its consent.

Is school video a public record?

Under Delaware's public-records law, a pupil file is not a public record when releasing it would invade personal privacy. Federal guidance says surveillance video created and kept by a school's law enforcement unit for a law enforcement purpose is not a FERPA (federal student-records law) education record.

Does Delaware limit facial recognition?

Delaware's consumer privacy law, the Personal Data Privacy Act, does not apply to personal data regulated by FERPA. Under that act, ordinary photos and video recordings are not "biometric data"; data drawn from them counts only when it is generated to identify a specific person.

How can schools pay for cameras?

The Delaware School Safety and Security Fund gives partial or full funding to school districts, vocational technical schools and charter schools for projects that improve school safety or security. The fund started with $5,000,000 and after that depends on appropriations. Eligible expenses include camera and monitoring equipment, visitor pass cameras and security systems, and bus camera security systems. Each school district or charter school decides, together with the Department of Education and the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which eligible items to spend fund money on. Fund money is split among them in proportion to the previous year's Division I unit count. Charter schools cannot use the fund for improvements that count as major capital expenditures. The FY2026 bond act, SB 200, signed July 1, 2025, appropriated $9,138,000 for School Safety and Security to the Department of Education for the fund. The FY2027 bond act, HB 500, signed July 6, 2026, appropriated another $9,138,000 for the fund; its line-item veto struck only a Legislative Hall line, not this appropriation.