How Indiana School Safety Grants Pay for Security Cameras and Access Control

The Indiana Secured School Safety Grant reimburses up to $100,000 per school per year for equipment that restricts access to the building, manages visitors, reports whether doors are open or closed, and detects visual threats, which is the plain description of a camera and access control project. The school pays first, matches a share that depends on its enrollment, and claims the money back with invoices. Applications open in June, awards land at the start of September, and the work has to happen between September 1 and August 31. Everything below comes from the state’s own program documents, plus the federal program that funds the same hardware.

What the Secured School Safety Grant is

The program was created in 2013 and is run by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, with a Secured School Safety Board approving or disapproving each application.¹ It is a dedicated state fund that provides matching grants to school corporations, accredited non public schools, charter schools and coalitions of school corporations applying jointly; virtual schools are not eligible.^1,3 Every application is reviewed on a competitive basis and there is no guarantee of funding.³

The money is real and steady. The General Assembly put $27.1 million in the budget for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, and the state has awarded more than $214 million to Indiana schools since 2014, approving 4,599 grant requests through fiscal year 2026.^3,1 In the 2026 round the board funded 494 schools and districts with just over $27 million, of which 126 projects worth $5.58 million were in the equipment, technology and hardware category, the one cameras and door controls live in.⁵ The 2027 round, announced at the start of September 2026, funded 499 projects with $26.9 million, including 118 equipment projects worth $5.2 million.⁶ Marion County alone had seven township and city districts at the full $92,500 top priority award in 2026, along with charter and private schools at amounts from $42,665 to $86,167.⁴

The match, by enrollment

This is a matching and reimbursement grant, which means the school spends its own money first and is paid back for eligible costs during the performance period.² All schools can apply for up to $100,000, and the match is calculated on the school’s average daily membership and the amount requested.²

The rules on the match itself are strict. It must be dollar for dollar cash or in kind services, other state or federal grants cannot be used as match, and match funds should be spent before or at the same time as grant funds in the percentage stated in the award letter.³ Reimbursement requests go in through the state’s IntelliGrants system as fiscal reports 3 times a year, each with an invoice and proof of payment, and a final program report is due within 30 days of the end of the period.³ Item costs above what the grant contributes can count as the school’s match, which is how a $150,000 camera and door project fits a $100,000 award.⁷

What the grant will pay for on the building

The eligible uses are written as purposes, not product names, which is helpful because the purposes map directly onto a security project. Grant funds may be used to purchase equipment, hardware, materials and technology to restrict access to school property and classrooms, assist with visitor management, expedite notification of first responders, expedite access to school property for first responders, provide school staff with information about the open or closed status of interior and exterior doors, detect fire, chemical, visual or audible threats, and enhance emergency communications inside the building.¹ A vestibule or entry rebuild falls under a separate category: the fund may design and construct additions or renovations on school property if the primary purpose of the project is to enhance the physical security of the school building.³

In our terms, that list is door access control readers and electrified hardware, the visitor entry intercom and camera, door position reporting back to the front office, the camera system and its recorder, duress buttons that call first responders, and the cabling that ties them together. Our school security cameras and access control page covers the systems for preschool through higher education.

The calendar, and the 6 things to have ready before June

The pattern repeats each year. For fiscal year 2026 the application opened June 2, 2025 and closed June 30, 2025 at 4:30 p.m., and the board announced awards on September 2 for a performance period of September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026.^3,5 For fiscal year 2027, applications were due June 30, 2026 at 4:30 p.m., and awards were announced at the start of September 2026 for work between September 1, 2026 and August 31, 2027.^1,6 The 2028 window will open in June 2027, which means the scoping happens in the spring.

Timing inside that window matters more than most people expect. Do not start project or match activities before September 1 and before receipt of the award letter, because any expenditure before or after the period of performance is not allowed, and that includes the match.^3,7 Equipment already paid for cannot be claimed.⁷

Before applying, IDHS requires 6 things: registration in IntelliGrants, an active state supplier number, an active state bidder number, a completed site vulnerability assessment for each building, a memorandum of understanding with a community mental health center or a licensed provider on staff, and certification that the school sits in a county with a county school safety commission.³ The supplier number can take up to 10 days and the bidder registration cannot start until it exists, so the paperwork begins in May, not on June 29.⁷

Rank the camera and door project first

Applicants rank their project scopes from 1, the highest priority, to 9, and IDHS says plainly that ranking helps ensure a school receives support in the area that is its highest priority should only partial awards be given due to limited funding.³ Partial awards are now the norm. For fiscal year 2026 the eligible requests exceeded the money, so schools were funded at 92.5 percent of their top priority items; the year before it was 81 percent, and for 2027 the board’s announcement put it at 86 percent.^5,6 In the 2026 award list, 121 of the 494 awards are exactly $92,500, which is 92.5 percent of the $100,000 cap.⁴ First time applicants were fully funded for their top priority requests that year.⁵

The practical rule: whatever is ranked first gets most of its money, and lower ranked scopes may get nothing. If a school resource officer is priority 1, as it is for most districts, the camera project competes for what is left. If the vulnerability assessment says the entry is the weak point, the entry project should be priority 1 and the narrative should say why.

When the award is not enough

Public school corporations and charter schools that have been approved for a matching grant can apply for an advance from the Indiana Common School Fund for costs the board approved above the award and the match, up to $500,000 or the amount of the shortfall, whichever is less.⁸ The advance may be used to purchase equipment or make capital improvements needed to restrict access to schools, expedite the notification of first responders, or improve school security.⁸ It is an advance, not a grant, the board reviews it within 30 days and the State Board of Education makes the final call, and private schools are not eligible.⁸ For a district rebuilding several entries in one summer, it is the piece that closes the gap.

The federal program that pays for the same hardware

The U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office runs the School Violence Prevention Program, and it is the federal grant written for physical security. For fiscal year 2026 up to $73 million was available, each award runs 36 months from October 1, 2026 with a maximum federal share of $500,000, and about 200 awards were anticipated.^9,10 Its fundable equipment list reads like a school security scope: door locking mechanisms and access control doors, entry control equipment, intercom or public address systems, visitor management systems, panic and immediate alarm notification systems, security cameras and systems and accompanying equipment, lighting on school grounds, and gates or poles for lights or cameras.¹¹

• The match is cash. A local cost share of at least 25 percent is required in cash, in kind contributions are not allowable, and waivers are limited to severe fiscal distress; microgrants of up to $100,000 for rural, tribal and low resourced districts have the match waived.¹⁰
• Districts apply, not schools. School districts, school boards and law enforcement agencies are eligible; individual schools and private schools are not eligible as primary applicants.⁹
• No construction except fencing. Construction and renovation costs are unallowable, so a vestibule build belongs on the Indiana grant, not this one.¹¹
• Some camera brands are barred. Award funds cannot buy video surveillance equipment from Hikvision, Dahua, Huawei, ZTE or Hytera, so the camera specification has to be checked against that list before the quote.¹¹

The 2026 federal window closed on August 11, 2026, so a district reading this is planning for the next cycle.⁹ The other federal name people hear, the BJA STOP School Violence program, cannot be used for the purchase of target hardening equipment such as cameras, security systems, fencing and locks; it points applicants to the COPS program instead.¹²

How to scope a project that fits the application

1. Start from the site vulnerability assessment. It is required before applying, and IDHS tells applicants to use the results of the vulnerability assessment to drive and prioritize the funding requests.³ The school safety specialist owns the building safety plan and is the liaison to the board, so the assessment findings should be the first page of the project narrative.¹³
2. Follow the state’s own guidelines on the entry. Indiana’s school safety guidelines, which IDHS notes are recommendations rather than requirements, encourage a single visitor access point that stays locked during school hours, a vestibule whose interior doors force visitors into the front office, a camera at the visitor entrance, numbered exterior doors starting at the main entrance, and cameras linked into the emergency response system.¹⁴ A project that reads back those guidelines is easy for a reviewer to score.
3. Quote it as systems, not parts. One line for the camera system with its recorder, mounts and cabling, one for the access control system with its readers, controllers, door hardware and cabling, one for the visitor entry intercom.³ Model numbers on the quote, because reimbursement needs an invoice that matches.
4. Design the doors to release correctly. Free egress on the exit side, no push to exit that the code would call special knowledge, confirmed with the building official.³
5. Put it first, and size it to the tier. A small school asking $35,000 at a 25 percent match gets a $43,750 project; asking $36,000 doubles the match. A large district matching dollar for dollar should ask the full $100,000 and put the difference on the Common School Fund advance if it needs it.^2,8
6. Schedule for September to August. Quote in spring, apply in June, order after the award letter, install over fall break or winter break, file the fiscal reports 3 times a year.³

We design and install the cameras, the access control readers and door hardware, the intercoms and the structured cabling behind them, and because we are also an electrical contractor the power for the new equipment goes in on the same visit. If your assessment is done and the window is coming, send us the findings and we will scope it as systems with the numbers the application needs.