Pennsylvania school security camera law

What does Pennsylvania law allow and limit?

The state School Safety and Security Committee must give grants to school entities for school mental health and safety and security programs, including a list of uses. One use is security planning and buying security-related technology, "which may include" surveillance equipment along with metal detectors, electronic locksets and other items. That use was last amended by Act 17 of 2026. A "school entity" includes school districts, intermediate units, career and technical schools, charter, cyber charter and regional charter schools, approved private schools, schools for the deaf or blind, and private residential rehabilitative institutions.

Can schools record audio on school buses?

Under the Wiretap Act, a school may record audio on a school bus or school vehicle for disciplinary or security purposes only if all of the listed conditions are met. The school board must have adopted a policy that allows bus audio recording for disciplinary or security purposes. Each school year, the board must put the policy in the student handbook. A clearly visible notice that students may be audiotaped must be posted on each bus or vehicle with audio-recording equipment. The school entity must post a notice of the policy on its public website. The exception does not apply when the bus or vehicle is used for something that is not school related. This paragraph was last amended by Act 56 of 2016.

What do the state's physical security criteria say about cameras?

The School Safety and Security Committee must set, periodically review and, if necessary, update baseline criteria for physical security in school entities. On June 3, 2026, it adopted revised Physical Security and Behavioral Health Baseline Criteria. The criteria rank equipment, training, policies and activities from Level 1 (most basic) to Level 3 (most advanced). Level 1 lists functioning cameras, and Level 2 lists wider camera coverage. Level 3 lists a video surveillance system, offsite or law enforcement monitoring capability, and active monitoring of cameras during school hours and large group events. In 2026-27, a school entity is eligible for school safety and mental health grants to meet the Level 1 physical security criteria. Once it meets Level 1, it may spend those grants on listed uses, including security technology.

How can schools pay for cameras?

For 2025-26, $100 million in the School Safety and Security Fund was set aside for school safety and mental health grants, added by Act 47 of 2025. For 2026-27, $100 million plus 75% of unspent prior-year fund money is set aside for those grants, added by Act 20 of 2026. For 2026-27, each school district that applies gets $100,000 plus an amount set by formula. Each intermediate unit, career and technical school, charter, regional charter and cyber charter school that applies gets $70,000. Targeted school safety grants cover nonpublic schools and school entities, and can be spent on any of the listed uses, including security technology. $20.7 million was set aside for targeted grants in 2025-26, and another $20.7 million in 2026-27. Security-sensitive information a nonpublic school puts in a targeted grant application stays confidential.

Is school camera footage a public record?

The Right-to-Know Law exempts records whose release would reasonably risk the physical security of a building or facility; it does not name school video. In one 2025 appeal, the Office of Open Records ordered a school district to release surveillance videos because the district had not proven release would threaten building security. In a 2026 appeal over school bus video, the district released the video after blurring every student except the requester's child and muting other students' voices; the Office of Open Records did not rule on those redactions. Federal FERPA guidance says records that a school's law enforcement unit creates and keeps for a law enforcement purpose are not education records.

What bills are pending?

HB 391 would require every school bus to have a video monitoring system with an interior camera covering every seat by July 1, 2026. Its only action is referral to the House Education Committee on January 28, 2025, and that date has passed. SB 378, the Student Data Privacy and Protection Act, would bar schools and their vendors from collecting any biometric identifier from a student, including facial geometry, unless law requires it. It was reported as amended from the Senate Education Committee on March 23, 2026, and laid on the table on June 3, 2026.