Behavioral Threat Assessment
STATE-BY-STATE
Every state has a role to play in advancing behavioral threat assessment and management in K–12 schools, but the requirements, resources, and expectations that come with them, vary widely. Explore this state-by-state breakdown to understand where behavioral threat assessment is required, supported through regulation, or addressed through guidance and best practices.
This data was compiled from state statutes, regulations, and each state's own Department of Education or school safety center materials as of August 2026, not the 2019 baseline cited in earlier national reports. Category boundaries reflect editorial judgment calls documented state by state.*
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Encouraged
State law requires annual staff safety training and emergency plans covering "serious threats," but those provisions are lockdown and severe-weather response procedures, not behavioral threat assessment, so no qualifying mandate exists.
Encouraged
No Alaska statute or Department of Education webpage mandates or endorses threat assessment, but the department co-leads an annual School Safety & Well-Being Summit that includes a session on aligning behavioral threat assessment with student support systems.
Encouraged
State law requires periodic school safety assessments, but these are physical building-security reviews, not behavioral threat evaluations, so Arizona has no BTAM mandate.
Required
Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-1303, as amended in 2023, requires every public school district and charter school to establish a behavioral threat assessment team and train every team member.
Required
Cal. Educ. Code § 49390 et seq. (SB 906, 2022) requires school staff to immediately report any homicidal threat to law enforcement, which must then investigate and assess it: a mandatory assessment process, just run through police rather than a school-based team.
State Regulation & Training
Colorado runs statutorily created programs (Safe2Tell and the School Safety Resource Center) that provide mandatory training and reporting infrastructure, but the state's own Attorney General has stated in writing that districts are "not required" to establish threat assessment systems.
Required
Encouraged
The Omnibus School Safety Act mandates comprehensive safety plans and drills but not threat assessment specifically; the state's Emergency Management Agency promotes BTAM as a recommended tool, not a legal requirement.
Encouraged
No DC statute mandates threat assessment, but the Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency runs school-safety training that names "Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management" as an offered course and links to federal BTAM resources.
Required
Fla. Stat. § 1006.07(7), originating in the 2018 post-Parkland Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act, requires every school to use the CSTAG threat assessment model and has since been expanded.
Required
Georgia's 2019 baseline requirement was retained absent evidence of repeal, and a 2023 law (Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-1185) separately requires annual threat assessment protocols and drills.
Encouraged
Several bills to create a threat assessment mandate (2020, 2021-22, 2022, 2024) were introduced but none passed, leaving Hawaii with no enacted statute or state guidance document.
Encouraged
A 2025 bill that would have given legal immunity to school threat assessment teams died in committee, leaving only informal guidance from the state's School Safety & Security program.
Required
105 ILCS 128/45 establishes Illinois's statewide behavioral threat assessment mandate.
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Required
Ind. Code § 10-21-1-10(c)(2)(F) requires multidisciplinary threat assessment teams in every school's safety plan, with compliance required by July 1, 2025: a new requirement since the 2019 baseline.
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State Regulation & Training
Iowa Code § 280.36 (2023) creates liability protection and information-sharing rules for schools that choose to form threat assessment teams, but the state's own implementation guidance says the law does not require any school to form one.
Encouraged
The Kansas School Safety and Security Act addresses security officers and general safety planning, but no provision requires threat assessment training or a threat-triggered process; state guidance on the topic remains non-statutory.
Required
Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 158.4412, part of the 2019 School Safety and Resiliency Act, establishes the mandate.
Required
La. R.S. 17:416.16, dating to 2001, requires every public school system to establish a district threat assessment team with specific required membership: one of the longest-standing mandates in the country.
Required
A 2025 law (LD 21) amended Maine's student conduct code to require all schools to adopt policies consistent with behavioral threat assessment and management best practices statewide.
Required
Md. Code Ann., Educ. § 7-1507, the 2018 Safe to Learn Act, is a current, in-force mandatory statute.
Encouraged
No Massachusetts statute mandates threat assessment, but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education names "School Threat Assessment" directly in its own emergency-planning guidance and links to federal best-practice resources.
Required
Mich. Comp. Laws § 380.1308e (2024) uses mandatory "shall ensure" language, with schools required to comply by October 1, 2026.
State Regulation & Training
A 2026 law requires every school board to adopt an anonymous threat-reporting policy by 2027 and implement it by 2028: a real mandate, but for reporting infrastructure rather than a threat assessment team or process.
Required
Mississippi's 2019 baseline requirement was retained absent evidence of repeal; a 2025 School Safety Grant Program (SB 2538) supports it with funding.
State Regulation & Training
State law formally defines "behavioral threat assessment" and requires districts to request a transferring student's threat assessment records within 48 hours, but only for students placed through the child welfare system, not a universal mandate to conduct assessments.
Required
A 2023 law (Senate Bill 213) requires every school safety plan to include a threat assessment protocol and a threat assessment team that meets at least monthly.
State Regulation & Training
State law defines "threat assessment team" and requires the state to provide training and a 24/7 anonymous reporting line, but only for schools that already have a team; nothing requires a school to form one in the first place.
Required
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 388.1455 requires every school to have a "SafeVoice" multidisciplinary team of at least three staff, and the state Department of Education actively runs its own threat assessment program alongside it.
Required
New Hampshire's 2019 baseline requirement was retained absent evidence of repeal; a 2022 SAFE Grant Program provides related funding but is not itself a BTAM mandate.
Required
P.L. 2022, c.83, signed in August 2022 and effective the following school year, is a new requirement since the 2019 baseline.
Encouraged
State law requires training for school personnel, but on child abuse and neglect detection, not threat assessment; the Public Education Department's annual safety plan template recommends threat assessment without requiring it.
Required
NYSED's own regulation (8 CRR-NY 155.17), implementing the SAVE Act, specifically addresses multi-disciplinary behavioral assessment teams as a strategy schools may use and must document if used: real regulatory grounding, though closer to permissive than a universal mandate.
Required
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-105.65 requires every school to establish a threat assessment team: a new requirement since the 2019 baseline.
Encouraged
North Dakota's own Department of Public Instruction links out to the North Dakota Safety Council's "All-Threat Assessment" school safety service: a real reference to threat assessment even without a state mandate behind it.
Required
Ohio Rev. Code § 3313.669 (2021) establishes the mandate.
State Regulation & Training
State law requires every school to have a standing Safe School Committee, but the statute is scoped to bullying prevention rather than targeted-violence threat assessment.
Required
Oregon's 2019 baseline requirement, cited by RAND/NTAC as an early multidisciplinary-team mandate, was retained absent evidence of repeal.
Required
24 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 13-1302-E (2019) establishes the mandate.
Required
R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-21-23.2 establishes the mandate.
Required
South Carolina's own Department of Education states plainly that state law requires every school to have a threat assessment team, though the exact statute could not be confirmed; the mechanism most likely runs through an annual budget provision rather than permanent code.
Encouraged
A 2024 law addresses door security and school resource officer presence, not threat assessment or training, so no qualifying statute exists.
Required
Signed in May 2023 after the Covenant School shooting, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-6-2701 to 2703 requires every school district to establish threat assessment teams.
Required
Tex. Educ. Code § 37.115 (2019) establishes the mandate.
Required
Utah Code Ann. §§ 53G-8-701.5 and 701.6 require every school to have a designated safety and security specialist who must conduct a behavioral threat assessment using an evidence-based tool when needed.
Required
16 V.S.A. § 1485 is a current mandatory statute added between 2019 and today, independently confirmed against the state's own Agency of Education guidance.
Required
Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-79.4 establishes the mandate
Required
Wash. Rev. Code § 28A.320.123 establishes the mandate.
Encouraged
State law mandates active shooter training, but that trains for physical response after violence begins rather than identifying behavioral warning signs beforehand, so it falls short of a threat assessment mandate.
Required
Wis. Stat. § 118.07(5) (2017) requires every school district to train all employees on mandatory reporting of school violence threats: a real statewide training mandate, even without a separate law requiring a standing team.
Encouraged
Wyoming's Department of Education runs its own "Threat Assessment & Reporting" webpage describing how threat assessment helps prevent violence: a genuine state reference to the practice, without a mandate behind it.
Additional Resources
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This lineup of learning and training opportunities, focused on behavioral threat assessment, prevention, digital safety, and more, is designed to build toward the 2nd Annual International PREVENT Conference in January 2027.
Ideal for leaders and front-line staff, this guide provides best practice guidance to law enforcement agencies, leaders, and practitioners, as well as school officials, behavioral
health specialists, parents, and community stakeholders.
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*Review the research and references supporting this state-by-state overview.
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