What a TEC §37.108 safety & security audit includes
The three-year audit is not a walkthrough with a clipboard. For the 2026–2029 cycle it is a multi-instrument assessment — nearly 300 items spanning your records, your facilities, your people, and the laws the 89th Legislature added in 2025. Here is the full scope, plainly stated.
The six areas every audit covers
Records and policy review — 140 criteria
Board policies, the multihazard emergency operations plan and its annexes, drill logs, safety and security committee records, training documentation, and compliance records — assessed against the TxSSC Records Review tool before anyone walks a campus.
On-site physical assessment — 71 criteria per facility
Access control, exterior and interior conditions, entry hardening, communications, and grounds — every facility, with photo evidence tied to each observation.
Structured interviews — 84 items
Campus leadership, staff, and safety personnel interviewed with the TxSSC On-Site Interview tool, so findings reflect how safety practices actually operate day to day.
Safety climate assessment
Staff and stakeholder climate input collected through a digital survey instrument, documented and referenced in the findings.
Security reviews under TEC §37.1087
New for this cycle: facilities that were constructed, acquired, renovated, or improved receive a security review identifying active-shooter vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies — now a statutory component of the three-year audit.
Findings, trackers, and the final report
Every finding entered once, tied to a criterion and its evidence, and carried onto the TxSSC Improvement, Commendation, and Justification Trackers — ending in a board-ready report on the official Final Report Template.
The instruments are the Texas School Safety Center’s own — official source: TxSSC School Safety and Security Audit Toolkit.
The 2025 laws are inside the audit now
The new cycle’s criteria absorb the 2025 legislative session. Among the items your audit now verifies:
| Authority | What the audit verifies |
|---|---|
| SB 838 (Alyssa’s Law, TEC §37.117) | Silent panic alert technology in every classroom |
| HB 33 (Uvalde Strong Act, TEC §37.1171) | At least one breaching tool and one ballistic shield at each campus |
| HB 33 (TEC §37.1087) | Security reviews for constructed, acquired, renovated, or improved facilities |
| HB 121 | Six-phase emergency operations plan, including reunification and recovery |
| HB 121 | Emergency response maps provided to every applicable emergency services district |
| SB 57 | Drill accommodations for students with IEPs and 504 plans |
| TEC §37.108(b-1) | Certification that school safety allotment funds (§48.160) were used for allowed purposes |
Plain-English explanations of each law live in our Texas school safety law library.
What is not in the audit’s scope
Two state programs are often confused with the §37.108 audit — and no vendor, including us, can perform either one for you:
| TxSSC 3-year audit | TEA intruder detection audit | TEA vulnerability assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who performs it | Your district, or a TxSSC-registry consultant | TEA regional review teams | TEA Office of School Safety & Security |
| How often | Once per three-year cycle | Every campus, every year, unannounced | About 30% of districts per year, at random |
| Focus | Comprehensive: records, facilities, interviews, climate | Whether an intruder can gain access | Access controls, EOP, compliance depth |
| Reported to | TxSSC and your board | TEA (Sentinel) | TEA (Sentinel) |
A thorough, well-documented §37.108 audit is the best preparation a district can have for both TEA programs — the same doors, plans, and practices are what their teams test.
Scope depends on your district, not a template
Campus count, facility types, enrollment, and prior-audit history all shape the work. That is why we scope every audit from your facility inventory in a signed audit plan before fieldwork begins — see how the process runs, step by step, or start preparing with the audit prep checklist.
Get a scoped audit estimate
Tell us your entity type and campus count. We respond with a per-campus scope the same business day in most cases.
We respond to every inquiry the same business day in most cases.