Requires the installation of master key boxes for building access by law enforcement and emergency responders; requires they must meet the underwriters laboratories standard UL 1037.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9250--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
November 7, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the instal-
lation of school master key boxes for building access by law enforce-
ment and emergency responders
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 409-o
2 to read as follows:
3 § 409-o. Master key box. 1. (a) The board of education or trustees of
4 every public school district, non-public school or educational institu-
5 tion, board of cooperative education services, county vocational educa-
6 tion and extension board within the state and chancellor of the city
7 school district of the city of New York shall arrange for, require, and
8 install (i) at least one exterior master key box on the campus of any
9 such public school district, non-public school or educational institu-
10 tion and (ii) on every instructional school building operated in a non-
11 campus setting to permit emergency access to both law enforcement
12 authorities and emergency responders from an exterior location desig-
13 nated by such board or chancellor in collaboration with local law
14 enforcement authorities, provided that such requirement shall be waived
15 if the board of education or trustees of the public school district,
16 non-public school or educational institution, board of cooperative
17 education services, county vocational education and extension board, or
18 chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York maintains
19 a written agreement with local law enforcement authorities acknowledging
20 and approving a determination to exclude one or more prescribed exterior
21 master key boxes from their school safety plan.
22 (b) The board of education or trustees of a public school district,
23 non-public school or educational institution, board of cooperative
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13081-02-5
A. 9250--A 2
1 education services, county vocational education and extension board, or
2 chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York shall
3 collaborate with law enforcement authorities to consider including the
4 following items in any master key boxes installed in accordance with
5 their school safety plan:
6 (i) Master external and internal keys;
7 (ii) Access cards;
8 (iii) Maps of the school buildings.
9 2. Each master key box shall meet the basic commercial applications
10 standard for antitheft alarms and devices as prescribed under the under-
11 writers laboratories standard UL 1037.
12 § 2. Paragraph f of subdivision 2 of section 2801-a of the education
13 law, as amended by chapter 227 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read
14 as follows:
15 f. policies and procedures relating to school building security,
16 including where appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or
17 security devices or procedures. District-wide school safety teams shall
18 consider, as part of its reviews of the comprehensive district-wide
19 safety plan, the installation of a panic alarm system, and shall, in the
20 absence of a written agreement with local law enforcement authorities to
21 the contrary, include installation of one or more exterior secure master
22 key boxes in accordance with section four hundred nine-o of this
23 chapter. For purposes of this paragraph, "panic alarm system" shall mean
24 a silent security system signal generated by the manual activation of a
25 device intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency situation
26 requiring a response from local law enforcement or, in the case of a
27 school building located in a municipality in which there is no municipal
28 police department, a location designated by the superintendent of state
29 police and may include one or more of the following: wired panic button
30 or buttons, wireless panic button or buttons or a mobile or computer
31 application;
32 § 3. Paragraph c of subdivision 3 of section 2801-a of the education
33 law, as amended by section 1 of part B of chapter 54 of the laws of
34 2016, is amended to read as follows:
35 c. floor plans, blueprints, schematics or other maps of the school
36 interior, school grounds and road maps of the immediate surrounding area
37 and, if applicable, the location and contents of any exterior master key
38 box installed on school grounds or at any instructional school building
39 operated in a non-campus setting;
40 § 4. Subdivision 6-c of section 3602 of the education law, as amended
41 by chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, and paragraph b as amended by section
42 9 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as
43 follows:
44 6-c. a. Building aid for metal detectors, [and] security cameras,
45 safety devices for electrically operated partitions, room dividers and
46 doors, and exterior master key boxes. In addition to the apportionments
47 payable to a school district pursuant to subdivision six of this
48 section, the commissioner is hereby authorized to apportion to any
49 school district additional building aid pursuant to this subdivision for
50 its approved expenditures in the base year for the purchase of station-
51 ary metal detectors, security cameras, safety devices for electrically
52 operated partitions and room dividers required pursuant to section four
53 hundred nine-f of this chapter, exterior master key boxes required
54 pursuant to section four hundred nine-o of this chapter, or other secu-
55 rity devices approved by the commissioner that increase the safety of
56 students and school personnel, provided, however, that funds apportioned
A. 9250--A 3
1 to school districts pursuant to this section shall not supplant funds
2 for existing district expenditures or for existing contractual obli-
3 gations of the district for stationary metal detectors, security
4 cameras, partition and room divider safety devices, exterior master key
5 boxes, or security devices. Portable or hand held metal detectors shall
6 not be eligible for aid pursuant to this subdivision. Such additional
7 aid shall equal the product of the building aid ratio computed for use
8 in the current year pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision six of this
9 section and the actual approved expenditures incurred in the base year
10 pursuant to this subdivision, provided that the limitations on cost
11 allowances prescribed by paragraph a of subdivision six of this section
12 shall not apply. The commissioner shall annually prescribe a special
13 cost allowance for metal detectors, [and] security cameras, and exterior
14 master key boxes, and the approved expenditures shall not exceed such
15 cost allowance. The commissioner shall annually prescribe a special cost
16 allowance for partition and room divider safety devices, and the
17 approved expenditures shall not exceed such cost allowance.
18 b. For projects approved by the commissioner authorized to receive
19 additional building aid pursuant to this subdivision for the purchase of
20 stationary metal detectors, security cameras, exterior master key boxes,
21 or other security devices approved by the commissioner that increase the
22 safety of students and school personnel, provided that for purposes of
23 this paragraph such other security devices shall be limited to electron-
24 ic security systems and hardened doors, and provided that for projects
25 approved by the commissioner on or after the first day of July two thou-
26 sand thirteen such additional aid shall equal the product of (i) the
27 building aid ratio computed for use in the current year pursuant to
28 paragraph c of subdivision six of this section plus ten percentage
29 points, except that in no case shall this amount exceed one hundred
30 percent, and (ii) the actual approved expenditures incurred in the base
31 year pursuant to this subdivision, provided that the limitations on cost
32 allowances prescribed by paragraph a of subdivision six of this section
33 shall not apply, and provided further that any projects aided under this
34 paragraph must be included in a district's school safety plan. The
35 commissioner shall annually prescribe a special cost allowance for metal
36 detectors, [and] security cameras, and exterior master key boxes, and
37 the approved expenditures shall not exceed such cost allowance.
38 § 5. This act shall take effect the first of July next succeeding the
39 date on which it shall become a law.
