Indiana State Funding
State Funding
Indiana offers school-safety funding through competitive matching grants, safety-related advances, and state oversight programs designed to help schools improve emergency preparedness, strengthen physical security, and support faster response during a crisis.
Project Maximum and Match Requirement
Indiana’s Secured School Safety Grant uses a matching-grant structure. Project maximums and match requirements are based on a school’s average daily membership or pupil enrollment.
For eligible applicants, project awards may be available up to $100,000, depending on enrollment category and program rules. Schools should review the current application guidance before applying, because match percentages, funding categories, and award limits may vary by grant cycle.
Secured School Safety Grant
The Indiana Secured School Safety Grant is a competitive matching grant program administered by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Eligible applicants include school corporations, accredited non-public schools, charter schools, and coalitions of school corporations or charter schools.
The program is designed to help Indiana schools increase safety and prepare for potential threats.
Allowable uses may include:
- employing a school resource officer or law enforcement officer;
- completing a site vulnerability assessment;
- completing critical incident digital mapping;
- purchasing equipment, hardware, materials, or technology to restrict access to school property or classrooms;
- improving visitor management on school property;
- expediting notification of first responders;
- improving first-responder access to school property;
- supporting emergency medical response on school grounds;
- providing staff firearms training or self-defense training, where applicable;
- implementing bullying prevention programs.
For the FY2027 cycle, the application period opened on June 1, 2026, and closed on June 30, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. ET. No late or incomplete applications were accepted.
School Safety Recommendations
In 2018, Indiana reviewed its school-safety needs and developed recommendations to address modern threats facing schools.
The review emphasized that school safety should go beyond physical security and emergency-response training. It also identified the need for expanded mental-health services, improved safety technology, stronger coordination among agencies, and better sharing of information related to threats, trends, and student well-being.
These recommendations helped shape Indiana’s continued focus on school security, threat assessment, prevention, emergency communication, and support services.
Indiana Common School Fund Safety Advances
Schools that were previously approved for a Secured School Safety Grant may also be eligible to request an advance from the Indiana Common School Fund for school-security improvements.
These advances may be used to purchase equipment or complete capital improvements needed to:
- restrict access to schools;
- speed notification to first responders;
- improve school security.
The maximum advance is the lesser of $500,000 or the amount needed to cover approved costs that exceed the Secured School Safety Grant award and the school’s required matching contribution.
Private schools are not eligible to request an advance from the Common School Fund. Requests are reviewed by the Secured School Safety Board and forwarded to the State Board of Education for final funding decisions.
Indiana Secured School Safety Board
The Indiana Secured School Safety Board reviews applications for matching grants from the Secured School Safety Grant Program.
The board is responsible for establishing application-evaluation criteria that align with the goals of the Secured School Fund. These criteria are intended to support fair distribution of school-safety funding to eligible schools and school corporations throughout Indiana.
The funding information and links provided on this page are based on publicly available information at the time of publication. While we make every effort to keep this resource current and relevant, funding programs, eligibility requirements, deadlines, and website links may change over time. If you discover outdated information, inaccurate content, or a broken link, please let us know by emailing info@carehawk.com.