Safer Schools Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Williams (TX)
Introduced
Summary
This bill would create a five-year Department of Justice pilot to fund independent security assessments and hard security upgrades at public elementary and secondary schools. It sets two grant tracks, eligibility rules, matching requirements, reporting rules, and a scheduled appropriation plan.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
New five-year school security pilot
If enacted, the Attorney General would set up a five-year pilot program within 120 days of enactment. The pilot would get $100 million in year one, $200 million in year two, and $300 million in each of years three through five. Thirty percent of money would fund independent security assessments and seventy percent would fund hard security upgrades. The pilot would end five years after it starts.
Grants for school security upgrades
If enacted, the Attorney General would award two grant types within 180 days: one to pay for independent facility security risk assessments and one to pay for hard security fixes identified by those assessments. Applications must include school size, a full financial report, and assessment results; assessment grants require a certification that the school cannot pay for the assessment. Schools hit by deadly-harm events get priority, and a school that got a grant in the same track within the prior five fiscal years is usually ineligible (with an exception for an extra grant the year after a deadly-harm event). For hard fixes, the federal share would not exceed 50% of project costs unless the Attorney General waives that match for financial need. Grant funds must pay only for fixes identified in the most recent assessment and must meet specified panic-alarm, law-enforcement confirmation, and local building-code rules. The 50% match means local districts may need to provide significant nonfederal funding or seek a waiver.
Reporting and event notice rules
If enacted, grant recipients would report results to the Attorney General within one year, listing assessment findings, each hard fix bought, and the percent of vulnerabilities fixed or still outstanding. Reports must also list deadly-harm events in set time windows and include a safety survey taken before fixes and one year after. The Attorney General would give Congress a national report no later than two years after enactment and then every year. The Attorney General would tell every local educational agency about the grants and would call the head of a school within 30 days after a deadly-harm event to offer priority help.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Williams (TX)
TX • R
Cosponsors
Moskowitz
FL • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Davis (NC)
NC • D
Sponsored 1/9/2026
Vindman
VA • D
Sponsored 2/9/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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