New law requires Missouri students to participate in active shooter drills
Erika McGuire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A school safety package that Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law this year requires students to participate in active school shooter drills starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
Before Senate Bill 68 took effect in August, school district staff were only required to participate in active shooter drills.
While the new law does not specify the number of drills that must be conducted each year, it does require student participation.
Under Missouri’s ASIRT statute, teachers and school personnel are required by law to participate in simulated active shooter drills. However, broader training components such as identifying threats or responding to intruders are optional.
A report conducted by ProPublica last year found that most U.S. states require schools to conduct active shooter drills. It identified 13 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, that do not mandate such drills. While Missouri is among the states that require active shooter drills, the mandate applies only to school staff, not students.
Colorado and Connecticut are known to have had the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history.
The Columbine school shooting in Colorado in 1999 left 13 people dead — 12 students and one teacher.
In Connecticut in 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place, leaving 20 people killed.
Senate Bill 68 also requires Missouri schools to develop response plans for armed intruders, natural disasters, and medical emergencies. The law mandates the use of anti-intruder locks and bullet-resistant window film in all new school construction by 2029, if state funding is provided.
Public school districts and charter schools must also report all school safety incidents and credible threats to the Missouri Department of Secondary Education. DESE will be required to maintain a database of reported incidents and threats and share data with the Department of Public Safety.
Under Senate Bill 68, a cellphone ban took effect at the start of the 2025-2026 school year that prohibits students from using their phones during school hours. The policy requires schools to restrict device use during instructional time, with limited exceptions for emergencies and educational purposes.
The law required Columbia Public Schools to expand its policy from last year, when high school students were able to use cell phones outside of class periods.
Last year, the district had a cellphone policy in place that banned phone usage for middle school students all day, including in the bathrooms, hallways and lunch.
To implement the law, during school hours, cellphones must be turned off or on silent mode and stored in their backpacks or lockers.
Click here to follow the original article.
