Louisiana school tip line law

Does Louisiana require schools to offer anonymous reporting?

Yes, for public school systems. Each public school governing authority (the district or other body that runs public schools) must develop procedures for reporting potential threats to school safety. Those procedures must include a process for anonymous reporting that protects the identity of whoever reports a threat. They must also include a way to report through an automated voice system. The duty is a process each school system sets up locally; the section does not create a state tip line. The section, R.S. 17:410, was enacted by Act 641 of 2018.

Who is covered?

The section's duties fall on public school governing authorities and public schools; it says nothing about nonpublic schools.

What must schools tell students and staff?

Each public school governing authority, working with local law enforcement, must develop and give every student age-appropriate information on online threats to school safety, including how to recognize and report them. That information must be given or explained to students and staff at the start of each school year. It must also be posted on an easily accessible page of each school's website and the governing authority's website.

What happens when a threat is reported to a school?

For every threat reported, a school administrator must record on the standardized reporting form what action the school took. If a report is judged a potential threat to school safety, the school must give the form and evidence to local law enforcement. If the information poses an immediate threat, school administrators must follow the procedures in R.S. 17:416.16. R.S. 17:410 sets no hours or response times for anonymous reports.

What happens after a threat reaches law enforcement?

Under Louisiana's separate threat-reporting law, once told of a threat, the school administrator must make reasonable efforts to inform everyone targeted and take all necessary measures to protect them. Under Act 901 of 2026, a local law enforcement agency that receives a threat report under that law must forward it to the Louisiana Fusion Center within seven calendar days. Act 901 takes effect August 1, 2026.

Is the reporter's identity protected?

The school procedures must include a way to safeguard the identity of a person who reports a threat. The report sent to the fusion center must not include personally identifiable information about any student or about the person who reported the threat. Threat reports made to law enforcement or the fusion center under that law count as security records under Louisiana's public-records law, R.S. 44:3(A)(3).

What does the state run?

The Louisiana Center for Safe Schools is allowed, but not required, to set up and run anonymous reporting systems. The center sits within the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice. Before 2026, it sat within the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP). The center lists a SchoolSAFE Tipline for anonymous reporting among its tools. The center must adopt written policies on data management, confidentiality, access controls and privacy-law compliance. Existing public-records exemptions for school security plans, critical incident data and related security information continue to apply to data and systems the center runs. The center must give an annual report on school and nonprofit security initiatives and its activities to the governor, BESE (the state board of education) and four legislative committees.

What changed in 2026?

Act 846 of 2026 enacted the center's current law, R.S. 15:1216, effective June 8, 2026. The same act repealed R.S. 29:726.5.1, effective June 8, 2026. Before that repeal, R.S. 29:726.5.1 required the center to provide a statewide anonymous reporting system by December 1, 2023. That former system had to take reports of threats of violence through a phone app and a website. Under the former law, every local school board had to put the state system, or one of equal or greater capability, into use by April 1, 2024. That duty was repealed on June 8, 2026. Under the former law, school boards also had to report the systems they put in place to BESE and the center by May 1, 2024. R.S. 29:726.5.1 had been enacted by Act 334 of 2023, effective June 13, 2023. The 2026 Regular Session ended on June 1, 2026.

What about false reports?

R.S. 17:410 sets no penalty for false reports. Under the threat-reporting law, no one can be sued for an action taken or statement made in following its reporting requirement. That protection does not cover a report made maliciously, willfully and deliberately to harm, harass or deceive law enforcement or school officials. Separately, Louisiana's crime of terrorizing a school property or school-sponsored function carries a fine of up to $15,000, or 5 to 15 years at hard labor without parole, probation or suspension of sentence, or both. HB 137 of 2026, which changes sentencing for posting or calling in threats to schools, was signed and became Act 619, effective August 1, 2026. Act 619 is the latest amendment listed for that crime, R.S. 14:40.1.

How is it funded?

The Legislative Fiscal Office says the center is budgeted at about $9 million in state general fund money in FY 27. It says that budget includes about $1 million in professional services for the anonymous reporting application.