MSD Act

Measures for Safer School Districts Act or the MSD Act

This bill requires each local educational agency (LEA), as a condition of receiving federal elementary and secondary education funds, to establish procedures for responding to school emergencies and for timely notifying parents of school emergencies. It also requires interior and exterior doors in schools to be reinforced.

Specifically, the bill requires each LEA to (1) develop and implement emergency response procedures covering all students, faculty, and staff at public schools under the jurisdiction of the LEA; and (2) ensure that parents and guardians receive timely notification of covered threats and emergencies (e.g., active shooter situations, bomb threats, and natural disasters) that occur on school grounds, during school transportation, or during school-sponsored activities. These emergency response procedures must meet specified criteria, including by requiring commonly used alarm system responses for specific types of emergencies.

Additionally, the bill requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to convene a rulemaking advisory committee to review and develop findings and recommendations to require the installation or modification of interior and exterior doors in any school that receives federal funding. Further, CISA must (1) submit a report to Congress on the advisory committee's findings and recommendations, and (2) issue a final rule that requires the installation or modification of interior and exterior doors in schools to reinforce such doors.

The bill authorizes the use of grants under the Homeland Security Grant Program to carry out the bill's provisions.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov