Minnesota · Minn. Stat. § 121A.0361
Every district and charter must adopt a policy by June 30, 2027 and have a system live by July 1, 2028. NOW IMS is for districts that want reports routed into their own teams — with a case record the district owns.
Requirement sources reviewed August 19, 2026 · Operational information, not legal advice
01 / What the statute requires
Several news summaries get the details wrong. These are the requirements from the enrolled bill — the anchors we would map with your district team and counsel.
A district-operated system must support anonymous reporting 24 hours a day using a mobile application, website, and toll-free hotline. The enacted text is conjunctive — summaries that say “or” are wrong. Reports cover dangerous, violent, threatening, harmful, or potentially harmful activity on school property or relating to an enrolled student or school personnel.
Read the enrolled billThe system must immediately forward reported information to designated school staff, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and local law enforcement as soon as practicable. Districts must designate and train the staff who receive and respond, including training on coordinating a response with the BCA and local law enforcement.
Read the session lawReport data is confidential or protected nonpublic while active, and becomes inactive two years after the last associated report or when officials determine it is no longer connected to a potential risk — then reclassifies under educational-data rules. Information about the system itself is security information. FERPA applies throughout.
Districts must promote the system on their website, in student handbooks, and in an annual parent notification, and report their choice to MDE — which names non-compliant districts to the Legislature each year. DPS/HSEM administers $4 million in grants, capped at $10,000 per district and $2,500 per charter or nonpublic school, available through June 30, 2029.
Minnesota School Safety CenterImportant: This page summarizes an enacted Minnesota session law for planning purposes and is not legal advice. Statutory citations reference Laws of Minnesota 2026, Chapter 117; confirm applicability and implementation with your district’s counsel and the responsible state agencies.
02 / Requirement-to-workflow map
Protected web, SMS, and voice channels with two-way anonymous follow-up. On anonymous channels, IP addresses, caller numbers, and device fingerprints are never stored in case records — anonymity beyond what the statute asks.
Reports dispatch to designated staff and your law-enforcement contact paths the moment they arrive, with acknowledgement tracked against response deadlines and automatic escalation when no one responds.
Retention and classification rules are configurable per jurisdiction, every action lands in an append-only audit trail, and access is limited by role and school — so active/inactive lifecycle handling is operational, not aspirational.
Policies become guided playbooks with named owners and deadlines. When MDE, your board, or a parent asks what happened after a report, the answer is a record — not a recollection.
03 / Clear boundaries
Minnesota lets districts comply by promoting the state’s free statewide system. NOW IMS is for districts that want more than a tip line: direct routing into district teams, a governed case record, and one platform that also handles bullying, Title IX, and staff concerns. Know the boundaries either way:
04 / Questions
New Minn. Stat. § 121A.0361 (Laws of Minnesota 2026, Chapter 117) requires the board of every school district and charter school to provide an anonymous threat reporting system. A district-operated system must support anonymous reporting 24 hours a day through a mobile application, a website, and a toll-free hotline; accept tips about dangerous, violent, threatening, harmful, or potentially harmful activity on school property or relating to an enrolled student or school personnel; immediately forward reports to designated school staff, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and local law enforcement; and comply with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and FERPA. Districts should confirm the requirements with counsel.
By June 30, 2027, each board must adopt a policy at a school board meeting choosing between a locally operated system and the state’s system, and inform the Minnesota Department of Education of its choice. By July 1, 2028, the system must be implemented. Beginning January 15, 2028, MDE reports annually to the Legislature naming districts that implemented a local system, promoted the statewide system, or did neither.
Yes. The statute lets a district comply by promoting the Department of Public Safety’s statewide anonymous threat reporting system on its website, in student handbooks, and in an annual parent notification. A district-operated system is the right choice when you want reports routed directly into your own teams and protocols, a case record your district owns and governs, response deadlines you can evidence, and one system that also covers bullying, Title IX, staff concerns, and other district workflows — not only threats.
Minnesota appropriated $4 million (FY2027) for grants administered by the Department of Public Safety’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management division, covering development, purchase, implementation, operation, and maintenance — including staff compensation. Grants are capped at $10,000 per district or cooperative and $2,500 per charter, Tribal contract, or nonpublic school, available through June 30, 2029. As of this page’s review date, HSEM had not yet announced an application window; watch the Minnesota School Safety Center.
No software makes an organization compliant by itself. NOW IMS can support anonymous intake, immediate routing, documentation, response tracking, and records governance. Your board, administrators, and counsel remain responsible for the policy adoption, staffing designations, training, law-enforcement coordination, notices, and reporting the statute requires.
Anonymity is engineered, not promised: on anonymous channels NOW IMS does not store IP addresses, caller numbers, or device fingerprints in case records, and two-way follow-up uses secure claim tokens so a reporter can add information without identifying themselves. Data handling can be configured for Minnesota’s active/inactive data lifecycle under the Government Data Practices Act and for FERPA.
05 / Private working session
Bring your current reporting channels, school list, and board timeline. We’ll walk the statute’s requirements against your operating model — and be straight about what belongs to the district, the state, and the software.