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California school safety

Maintaining Safe Learning Environments

An overview of Senate Bill 906 requirements concerning threat reporting and annual notification about the safe storage of firearms.

For an immediate or life-threatening emergency

Call 911 and follow your local educational agency’s emergency procedures. This overview is not a substitute for district protocols, law-enforcement direction, or legal advice.

Safe and secure campuses are essential to student success and staff well-being. California Senate Bill 906 (SB 906) established requirements intended to strengthen collaboration with law enforcement and reinforce the importance of safely storing firearms in the home.

Two principal requirements

K–12 annual notice

Safe-storage information for families

Beginning with the 2023–24 school year, school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1–12 must include information about the safe storage of firearms in the annual notification provided to parents and guardians.

The notice must be informed by model content developed by the California Department of Education.

Grades 6–12 reporting

Immediate reporting of threats

A school official whose regular duties bring the individual into contact with pupils in grades 6–12 as part of a middle or high school must immediately report a qualifying threat or perceived threat to law enforcement.

The report must include copies of documentary or other evidence associated with the threat or perceived threat.

What is a “threat or perceived threat”?

Under Education Code section 49390, it is a pupil’s writing or action that creates a reasonable suspicion that the pupil is preparing to commit a homicidal act related to school or a school activity.

Examples may include possession, use, or depictions of firearms, ammunition, shootings, or targets associated with physical harm, destruction, or death in social media, a journal, a class note, or other pupil-associated media. A warning from a parent, pupil, or another person may also qualify. The threat need not specifically mention a firearm.

Responding to a reportable threat

  1. Report immediately. When reasonable suspicion meets the statutory definition, contact law enforcement immediately. Do not wait until the school’s threat-assessment process is complete.
  2. Preserve and provide evidence. Include copies of documentary or other evidence associated with the threat. Follow local procedures for preserving original content and recording relevant context.
  3. Continue coordinated assessment. The local law-enforcement agency or schoolsite police, with support from the LEA, must immediately investigate and assess the threat. Share information already gathered through the school’s threat-assessment process as legally permitted.
  4. Follow local protocols. Continue using established emergency and behavioral threat-assessment procedures in coordination with law enforcement, district leadership, student services, and legal counsel as appropriate.
Joint reporting: When two or more school officials jointly have the duty to report and agree, one of them may make a single report. An official who knows that the designated reporter failed to do so must then make the report. Law enforcement must retain a record of reports received under the statute.

Investigation requirements

After notification, the appropriate local law-enforcement agency or schoolsite police, supported by the LEA, must immediately conduct an investigation and threat assessment. The law requires review of the California Department of Justice firearm registry. It also requires a schoolsite search only when reasonable suspicion justifies the belief that the search would produce evidence related to the threat or perceived threat.

Questions concerning student records, searches, information sharing, privacy, or application of the reporting standard should be addressed through the LEA’s established procedures and qualified legal counsel.

Official resources

SB 906 chaptered bill text

California Legislative Information

Safe Storage of Firearms and School Safety

California Department of Education

Bystander Reporting Toolkit

CISA and the U.S. Secret Service

Review note: This educational summary reflects the chaptered text of SB 906 and official guidance reviewed in August 2026. Laws, guidance, and local procedures can change; verify current requirements before relying on this page for operational or legal decisions.