- Bill: HB0322
- Read the Full Legislation
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HB0322 revised and expanded Tennessee’s existing Schools Against Violence in Education (SAVE) Act. Every public school district must:
Note: HB0322 does not mandate installation of a panic alert system. It requires safety teams to consider one and document that evaluation in the safety plan. If a district chooses to implement a system, the law requires it to connect to diverse emergency service technologies and integrate with the local PSAP (the county 911 dispatch center that coordinates police, fire, and EMS response).
Alyssa’s Law is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old student killed in the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Her mother, Lori Alhadeff, became a leading voice pushing for school safety reform, founding the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe. The law’s advocates push for legislation that gives every classroom a direct, silent line to law enforcement during an emergency (without triggering school-wide alarms that could escalate danger or tip off a threat).
Tennessee lawmakers introduced HB0322 before the March 2023 shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School. They significantly expanded its funding and scope in the tragedy’s aftermath. Governor Bill Lee signed the bill on May 10, 2023, as part of a broader $230 million school safety and security package. Tennessee was among the states that passed a version of Alyssa’s Law in 2023, alongside Texas.
Advocacy groups have publicly called for Tennessee to strengthen its law into a full installation mandate. As of mid-2026, HB0322 still only requires districts to evaluate and document their consideration of a panic alert system.
Most districts read “consider” and stop there. That’s the trap. If a safety team’s plan doesn’t document what it evaluated, what it decided, and why, the district may not be meeting HB0322, even without ever installing a device.
Districts that install and document a working system now, on their own timeline, avoid both problems at once.
As with every state’s version of Alyssa’s Law, silent panic alarm systems are additions to a school’s safety infrastructure. They are not replacements for existing classroom phones, intercoms, or other established communication devices.
Alyssa’s Law has now passed in New Jersey (2019), Florida (2020), New York (2022), Texas and Tennessee (2023), Utah and Oklahoma (2024), Georgia, Washington, and Oregon (2025), and Virginia and West Virginia (2026). As of early 2026, more than 18 additional states are actively considering legislation.
Tennessee’s law is among the weakest enacted versions. Unlike Texas, which mandates installation in every classroom, or Utah, which mandates installation with dedicated recurring funding, Tennessee only requires the evaluation. Some states have gone considerably further:
Districts treating Tennessee’s current law as the finish line are likely underestimating where this is heading. A federal ALYSSA Act and a Safer Schools Act are both pending. Either would require Tennessee schools to meet Alyssa’s Law-style requirements regardless of state law.
Tennessee schools have multiple active funding programs for school safety and security. Most districts aren’t combining them.
The state-funded Public School Security Grant allocated $20 million for FY26, distributed to districts based on Average Daily Membership. No local match is required.
This pilot fund provides up to $8,000 per award specifically for silent panic alarm systems. Awards are first-come, first-served. They’re limited to two per grand division (East, Middle, and West Tennessee). Public, charter, and non-public schools are all eligible. Districts should review the FY26 application package for current deadlines.
The federal School Violence Prevention Program, administered by the COPS Office at the U.S. Department of Justice, is the primary federal funding source for school safety technology nationwide. The FY26 cycle is open, with up to $73 million available and a maximum award of $500,000 per grantee over a 36-month grant period. Districts must provide a 25% local cash match.
Eligible expenses include silent panic alarms, emergency alert technology, entry control systems, and staff training. Approximately $1 million is reserved for microgrants of up to $100,000 for rural, tribal, and low-resourced districts.
The Grants.gov deadline is August 4, 2026, and the JustGrants deadline is August 11, 2026.
The BJA STOP School Violence Program provides funding to prevent and reduce school violence. It awards up to $2 million for state governments and public institutions, and up to $1 million for independent school districts, nonprofits, and public charter schools. Allowable expenses include threat assessment teams, anonymous reporting tools, and school safety technology. Application cycles open annually, typically in late summer or fall. Districts should monitor BJA’s funding opportunities page for the FY26 announcement.
Districts that stack state and federal programs, and complete a security assessment before applying, get the most out of Tennessee’s funding landscape. A completed assessment is required for most competitive federal applications anyway.
Punch Rescue provides resilient hardware and software designed to work when it matters most. For Tennessee schools, that means a system that satisfies HB0322’s PSAP-integration standard. It also gives districts a documented, working evaluation to put in their safety plan.
The Rescue Card is a wearable panic button worn by teachers and staff. When pressed, it silently triggers an emergency alert. There’s no phone required. Rescue Repeaters extend signal coverage across a campus, covering classrooms, gymnasiums, portable buildings, and outdoor areas where WiFi dead zones are common.
The Rescue Base Station anchors the system’s communication infrastructure. It comes with approximately six hours of battery backup to maintain operation during power disruptions. This hardware is designed to work where app-based systems routinely fail, in the areas of campus with weak or no WiFi signal. These are precisely the spaces where staff are most vulnerable and least able to reach a phone.
Punch Rescue integrates with RapidSOS, a platform that connects activated panic button alerts directly to 911 and public safety agencies. The moment a Rescue Card is pressed, RapidSOS transmits real-time incident data (including location and alert type) to the appropriate dispatch center. This is the direct PSAP link HB0322 requires of any system a district chooses to implement.
Punch Rescue integrates with Mappedin to embed dynamic indoor facility maps directly within the response dashboard. When an alert is triggered, first responders receive accurate, room-level location data, supporting HB0322’s requirement that districts share floor plans with local law enforcement.
Punch Rescue integrates with Lightspeed System’s Notify technology for emergency communication coordination, automated response plan distribution, and mass notifications. When an incident occurs, administrators, staff, and first responders receive the right information automatically. There are no manual steps required during a moment of crisis.
Tennessee’s “consider” standard means the decision, and the documentation, are yours to get right. When evaluating systems, you need to ask:
Punch Rescue is built to answer yes to all of the above. It’s also highly customizable to meet unique school district needs and specifications.
Tennessee does not require schools to install silent panic alarms. HB0322 requires safety teams to evaluate one and document that evaluation as part of the district’s annual safety plan.
Most panic buttons leave you guessing about device status, battery life, and system health. Punch Rescue provides real-time visibility across your entire infrastructure, so you know your school is ready when it matters most.
