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
________________________________________________________________________
7999--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 15, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education --
recommitted to the Committee on Education in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- 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.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13081-03-5
S. 7999--A 2
1 (b) The board of education or trustees of a public school district,
2 non-public school or educational institution, board of cooperative
3 education services, county vocational education and extension board, or
4 chancellor of the city school district of the city of New York shall
5 collaborate with law enforcement authorities to consider including the
6 following items in any master key boxes installed in accordance with
7 their school safety plan:
8 (i) Master external and internal keys;
9 (ii) Access cards;
10 (iii) Maps of the school buildings.
11 2. Each master key box shall meet the basic commercial applications
12 standard for antitheft alarms and devices as prescribed under the under-
13 writers laboratories standard UL 1037.
14 § 2. Paragraph f of subdivision 2 of section 2801-a of the education
15 law, as amended by chapter 227 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read
16 as follows:
17 f. policies and procedures relating to school building security,
18 including where appropriate the use of school safety officers and/or
19 security devices or procedures. District-wide school safety teams shall
20 consider, as part of its reviews of the comprehensive district-wide
21 safety plan, the installation of a panic alarm system, and shall, in the
22 absence of a written agreement with local law enforcement authorities to
23 the contrary, include installation of one or more exterior secure master
24 key boxes in accordance with section four hundred nine-o of this
25 chapter. For purposes of this paragraph, "panic alarm system" shall mean
26 a silent security system signal generated by the manual activation of a
27 device intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency situation
28 requiring a response from local law enforcement or, in the case of a
29 school building located in a municipality in which there is no municipal
30 police department, a location designated by the superintendent of state
31 police and may include one or more of the following: wired panic button
32 or buttons, wireless panic button or buttons or a mobile or computer
33 application;
34 § 3. Paragraph c of subdivision 3 of section 2801-a of the education
35 law, as amended by section 1 of part B of chapter 54 of the laws of
36 2016, is amended to read as follows:
37 c. floor plans, blueprints, schematics or other maps of the school
38 interior, school grounds and road maps of the immediate surrounding area
39 and, if applicable, the location and contents of any exterior master key
40 box installed on school grounds or at any instructional school building
41 operated in a non-campus setting;
42 § 4. Subdivision 6-c of section 3602 of the education law, as amended
43 by chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, and paragraph b as amended by section
44 9 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as
45 follows:
46 6-c. a. Building aid for metal detectors, [and] security cameras,
47 safety devices for electrically operated partitions, room dividers and
48 doors, and exterior master key boxes. In addition to the apportionments
49 payable to a school district pursuant to subdivision six of this
50 section, the commissioner is hereby authorized to apportion to any
51 school district additional building aid pursuant to this subdivision for
52 its approved expenditures in the base year for the purchase of station-
53 ary metal detectors, security cameras, safety devices for electrically
54 operated partitions and room dividers required pursuant to section four
55 hundred nine-f of this chapter, exterior master key boxes required
56 pursuant to section four hundred nine-o of this chapter, or other secu-
S. 7999--A 3
1 rity devices approved by the commissioner that increase the safety of
2 students and school personnel, provided, however, that funds apportioned
3 to school districts pursuant to this section shall not supplant funds
4 for existing district expenditures or for existing contractual obli-
5 gations of the district for stationary metal detectors, security
6 cameras, partition and room divider safety devices, exterior master key
7 boxes, or security devices. Portable or hand held metal detectors shall
8 not be eligible for aid pursuant to this subdivision. Such additional
9 aid shall equal the product of the building aid ratio computed for use
10 in the current year pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision six of this
11 section and the actual approved expenditures incurred in the base year
12 pursuant to this subdivision, provided that the limitations on cost
13 allowances prescribed by paragraph a of subdivision six of this section
14 shall not apply. The commissioner shall annually prescribe a special
15 cost allowance for metal detectors, [and] security cameras, and exterior
16 master key boxes, and the approved expenditures shall not exceed such
17 cost allowance. The commissioner shall annually prescribe a special cost
18 allowance for partition and room divider safety devices, and the
19 approved expenditures shall not exceed such cost allowance.
20 b. For projects approved by the commissioner authorized to receive
21 additional building aid pursuant to this subdivision for the purchase of
22 stationary metal detectors, security cameras, exterior master key boxes,
23 or other security devices approved by the commissioner that increase the
24 safety of students and school personnel, provided that for purposes of
25 this paragraph such other security devices shall be limited to electron-
26 ic security systems and hardened doors, and provided that for projects
27 approved by the commissioner on or after the first day of July two thou-
28 sand thirteen such additional aid shall equal the product of (i) the
29 building aid ratio computed for use in the current year pursuant to
30 paragraph c of subdivision six of this section plus ten percentage
31 points, except that in no case shall this amount exceed one hundred
32 percent, and (ii) the actual approved expenditures incurred in the base
33 year pursuant to this subdivision, provided that the limitations on cost
34 allowances prescribed by paragraph a of subdivision six of this section
35 shall not apply, and provided further that any projects aided under this
36 paragraph must be included in a district's school safety plan. The
37 commissioner shall annually prescribe a special cost allowance for metal
38 detectors, [and] security cameras, and exterior master key boxes, and
39 the approved expenditures shall not exceed such cost allowance.
40 § 5. This act shall take effect the first of July next succeeding the
41 date on which it shall become a law.
