Missouri school tip line law

Does Missouri require schools to use a tip line?

Missouri requires each public school to give students age-appropriate information and training on the Highway Patrol's Courage2ReportMO (C2R) reporting tool every year. Public schools must also actively foster an environment where students feel comfortable telling a responsible adult about a potentially threatening or dangerous situation. That subsection, RSMo 170.315.6, covers only those two duties. In Missouri's education chapters, "public school" includes all elementary and high schools operated at public expense.

When did the requirement start?

2025 SB 68 added the annual Courage2ReportMO requirement. SB 68 took effect August 28, 2025. Section 170.315 was enacted in 2013 and amended by 2025 SB 68 and 2026 HB 1866. HB 1866 takes effect August 28, 2026.

What is Courage2ReportMO?

Highway Patrol materials call C2R Missouri's School Violence Prevention Hotline. The Highway Patrol says the hotline moved to the Missouri Information Analysis Center for 24/7 operation in 2019, when it was named Courage2Report. As of August 2026, the Highway Patrol says Courage2Report takes tips online or by phone at 1-866-748-7047, handled 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by trained professionals. The Highway Patrol deactivated the Courage2Report mobile app in August 2026, and it is no longer monitored. C2R takes reports on concerns including assault, bullying, cyberbullying, fighting, guns, human trafficking, planned school attacks and school shooting threats. The Highway Patrol says Courage2Report partners with both public and private Missouri schools serving pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2021, the Highway Patrol said schools not taking part in C2R could request a C2R School Contact Form.

How are tips routed and answered?

These details come from the Highway Patrol, not from the statute. In 2021, the Highway Patrol said C2R reports go to the right school and/or law enforcement agency for investigation and follow-up. It also said C2R requires a disposition report on each tip, telling the Highway Patrol the outcome.

Are tips anonymous and confidential?

RSMo 170.315.6 sets no anonymity rule for tip lines. The Highway Patrol says all reporting through Courage2Report is confidential. It has said tipsters can stay anonymous by not giving their name. Under Missouri's Sunshine Law (the open-records law), data given to a school-safety tip line falls within a closed-records category when disclosing it could endanger someone's health or safety. Closing those records is a permission: public bodies are authorized, not required, to close them.

What about false reports?

RSMo 170.315.6 sets no penalty for false reports. Missouri's general false-report crime, not specific to tip lines, covers knowingly making a false report to a law enforcement officer that an offense has occurred or is about to occur. That offense is a class B misdemeanor. Knowingly communicating a false report of a danger to life, to frighten ten or more people or cause a building's evacuation or closure, is first-degree making a terrorist threat. That offense is a class D felony.

Is there data reporting or funding?

RSMo 170.315.6 sets no data-reporting duty and no funding for tip lines.

Have other bills tried to change it?

2023 HB 1341, which would have required reports of school safety concerns to go to the Highway Patrol and the General Assembly, was not enacted. Its last action was a committee referral on May 12, 2023.