Most independent school leaders know they need better emergency management systems. Fewer realize those systems can often be purchased — partially or fully — through grants. If your school is in Pennsylvania, right now is a particularly good time to pay attention.
A Deadline Worth Knowing Right Now
Pennsylvania nonpublic schools have until March 30, 2026 to apply for grants of up to $75,000 through a state program specifically targeting behavioral health and school safety activities. Eligible uses include reducing school violence, addressing mental health needs, and funding safety-related technology. If your school is a nonpublic institution in Pennsylvania, this one deserves your attention now.
Pennsylvania also periodically opens its broader School Safety & Mental Health Grant program, which has historically funded security-related technology, visitor ID systems, training, and reunification planning for a wider range of institution types, including charter schools. Check pccd.pa.gov for current cycles and eligibility requirements.
Grants Aren't Just for Public Schools
There's a common misconception that school safety funding flows primarily to public districts. The Pennsylvania nonpublic school grant is a clear example that this isn't always true. Independent schools, faith-based schools, and other nonpublic institutions have access to dedicated funding streams — they just have to know where to look.
Pennsylvania schools can also monitor education.pa.gov and grants.gov regularly for additional state and federal opportunities with rolling or seasonal deadlines. Many of these have rolling deadlines and modest application requirements.
What Counts as a Grant-Eligible Expense?
This is where school leaders often leave money on the table. Safety technology — particularly integrated platforms that handle emergency accountability, visitor management, and attendance — frequently maps directly to what these grants are designed to fund.
When reviewing any grant opportunity, look for these categories:
Security-related technology → This typically includes software platforms used to manage campus access, run drills, and account for students during emergencies.
Visitor ID systems → Any technology used to screen, log, and manage visitors on campus generally qualifies here.
Emergency alert and communication infrastructure → Technology that enables direct, automatic notification to emergency services, including silent panic alert systems that meet Alyssa's Law compliance requirements.
Reunification planning → Systems that facilitate the organized release of students to guardians following an emergency.
If your school is evaluating an emergency management platform, it's worth running the line items past your grant administrator before assuming the purchase has to come entirely from operating budget.
How to Think About This Strategically
Grant funding for safety technology works best when schools treat it as part of a broader procurement strategy rather than a one-time windfall. A few principles that tend to serve schools well:
Build your broader grant strategy in parallel. Pennsylvania-specific grants are a great starting point, but they're one piece of a larger funding picture. Our 2025-2026 School Safety Grant Guide walks through major federal programs like STOP School Violence and SVPP, what makes applications stand out, and how to build a year-round grant preparation system — worth bookmarking if you're thinking beyond this cycle.
Start with your existing relationships. Your state association, diocese, or accrediting body often tracks funding opportunities and can flag ones relevant to your school type.
Time your evaluations around funding cycles. With a March 30 deadline on the horizon, now is the time to get vendor conversations started so you have accurate quotes and documentation ready before you apply.
Document your current gaps. Grants are more competitive when applications describe a specific, demonstrable need. An audit of your current safety systems — what you have, what's missing, where the gaps are — makes for a much stronger application than a general request.
Don't overlook smaller, stacked opportunities. A $10,000 equipment grant plus a $25,000 training grant plus a state safety grant can collectively fund a meaningful technology implementation. Schools that win at grants often do so by layering multiple smaller awards.
For Pennsylvania Nonpublic Schools: What to Do Before March 30
If your school is a Pennsylvania nonpublic (independent, private, or faith-based) institution, the March 30 deadline is close. A few steps worth taking now:
- Review the eligibility requirements carefully to confirm your school type qualifies and that your intended use of funds aligns with what the program covers.
- Gather documentation on your current safety systems and any gaps you've identified. Grant reviewers want to see that funding will address a real, demonstrable need.
- If you're considering a new safety platform as part of your application, get vendor conversations started now so you have accurate cost information to include before you apply.
Ruvna works with independent schools across Pennsylvania and beyond to implement integrated emergency management, visitor management, and attendance systems — the same categories that appear most frequently in school safety grant language. If you're in the middle of a grant application and want to understand how our platform maps to eligible expense categories, we're happy to help you think through it.
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