Keeping Michigan Students Safe
Funds from Section 31aa are available to purchase mental health screening tools, along with training on threat assessment and response, and more.
$321M from Section 31aa
For FY26, $321M was allocated for Section 31aa.
Allowable school safety expenses include:
- Mental health screening tools
- Training for school staff on threat assessment
- Training for school staff and students on threat response
- Training for school staff on crisis communication
- Safety infrastructure
- An emergency response system
- And more
Fill out the form to the right to get in touch with a Raptor solutions specialist.
Speak to a StudentSafe Specialist
“The recent independent report on the tragedy at Oxford High School proves the critical importance of proactively identifying and addressing concerning behaviors as early as possible and emphasizes the need for tools to make sure that no student slips through the cracks,” said Dr. Amy Grosso, Director, and Expert in Residence at Raptor Technologies. “StudentSafe enables Michigan schools to rapidly provide appropriate interventions to the right students before behaviors escalate to a crisis point, quickly turning policy into action.”
Michigan House Bill 5549
Signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on January 22, 2025, House Bill 5549 mandates that by no later than October 1, 2026, the board of a school district or intermediate school district, board of directors of a public school academy, or governing body of a nonpublic school shall ensure that each school under its jurisdiction has a behavior threat assessment and management team in place. These BTAM teams must be comprised of certain individuals and duties include:
- Defining prohibited and concerning behavior and educating the school community on warning signs that may indicate that someone is a risk to self or others.
- Monitoring, assessing, and performing inquiries into concerning behavior.
- Distinguishing between credible and noncredible threats.
- Developing a central reporting mechanism and educating the school community on how and what to report.
- Developing a written plan to assist a student who is engaging in concerning behavior, using supportive measures alongside punitive measures when necessary.
About StudentSafe
Many schools in Michigan today use paper forms, spreadsheets, or ineffective software to attempt to track student behaviors. Transitioning to a digital platform like StudentSafe offers a myriad of benefits, including:
- Helping to capture low-level concerns, allowing for easy documentation and tracking of student behavior.
- Facilitating quick identification of patterns, which in turn enables timely interventions.
- Streamlining collaboration as well as the roles of school counselors, administrators, and other staff.
- Supporting consistent application of protocols relating to behavioral threat management, suicide risk, bullying, sexual harassment, and more.
- Protecting sensitive data with role-based permissions and SOC 2 security and privacy compliance.
StudentSafe is available to support the duties of behavioral threat assessment and management teams, as required by House Bill (HB) 5549.
Watch the Raptor StudentSafe Video
Raptor StudentSafe Compliance and Success Program
The Raptor StudentSafe Compliance and Success Program (CSP) can help further support the effectiveness of behavioral threat assessment and management teams throughout the state with:
- Onsite training to provide threat assessment and student support teams with a comprehensive understanding of the significance of low-level concerns.
- Customized video resources that cover essential functions of the system, such as adding new concerns, escalating issues to an assessment level, and creating new assessments.
- Access to PublicSchoolWORKS self-paced curriculum which includes a session on identifying and reporting low-level concerns, and modules on bullying, suicide prevention, and homelessness.
- Monthly Compliance and Success meetings to ensure that data within StudentSafe is compiled in a meaningful way that allows for districts to improve their processes and outcomes.
Stronger Connections Grant
Stronger Connections Grant Program End Date: 9/30/2026
The Stronger Connections Grant has awarded 76 subgrants in Michigan, totaling over $27 million across two funding rounds, to support safer learning environments for students. Allowable expenses include:
- professional development and training for school staff on student physical and mental health
- suicide prevention
- violence prevention
- crisis management
- conflict resolution
- and more
Related Resources
Early Intervention Tools for Michigan Schools
Watch on-demand to discover how Raptor StudentSafe empowers schools to proactively identify and support students in need.
The Role of Trusted Adults in Student Resilience and Wellbeing
Host Dr. Amy Grosso speaks with Melissa Kree of Oxford Community Schools about fostering resilience in students.
BTAM in the Digital World
Host Dr. Amy Grosso speaks with Lea Bauer, an expert in threat assessment and protective intelligence about the value of incorporating a student’s digital world into threat assessments