Michigan schools have a major opportunity to plan ahead for student safety, mental health support, and emergency preparedness through Michigan 31aa funding.
Under MCL 388.1631aa, Michigan’s FY2025–26 school aid budget included $300 million from the School Aid Fund and another $21 million from the General Fund for school safety and mental health initiatives. For FY2026–27, the school aid budget continues Section 31aa funding for per-pupil mental health and school safety grants.
As schools wait for updated MDE application guidance, districts can use the current 31aa structure to understand priorities, allowable safety investments, legal requirements, and documentation needs. For K–12 districts, public school academies, ISDs, RESAs, nonpublic schools, and the Michigan Schools for the Deaf and Blind, Section 31aa has supported urgent needs such as mental health staffing, threat assessment training, crisis communication, emergency response systems, safety infrastructure, and firearm detection software that works with existing security cameras.
For schools looking to detect visible threats earlier and respond faster, 31aa funding may also provide a path to explore AI gun detection that connects directly into emergency response workflows, helping districts avoid the need for a separate, disconnected alerting system.
What Is Michigan Section 31aa Funding?
Section 31aa is a Michigan school aid funding program designed to improve student mental health and student safety. The program includes different funding paths, and it’s important to distinguish between them.
The main 31aa(2) per-pupil funding is formula-based. Eligible recipients can opt in and receive funding based on pupil count, rather than competing against other applicants through a discretionary award process.
Separate portions of Section 31aa have previously supported competitive grant opportunities for specific needs, including school resource officers, safety dogs, and mental health support staff. For FY2026–27, districts should review MDE guidance to confirm which funding categories are available and how they apply.
What’s New for 2026–2027?
Michigan’s FY2026–27 school aid budget continues Section 31aa funding with $310 million for per-pupil mental health and school safety grants, including $300 million for public schools and $10 million for nonpublic schools. According to the Senate Fiscal Agency summary, the funding is divided between school safety and mental health, with $206.7 million for school safety and $103.3 million for mental health.
One key issue that remains is the privilege-waiver requirement tied to accepting funds. The FY2026–27 budget summary notes that the conference report modified the language by narrowing both the waiver of privilege and the definition of a mass casualty event, but districts should still review the requirement carefully with legal counsel.
Schools should watch MDE for updated application instructions, deadlines, templates, and award details.
Why 31aa Matters for the 2026–2027 School Year
Although MDE’s current public guidance focuses on FY2026/School Year 2025–26, the needs addressed by Section 31aa are not short-term. Schools continue to face pressure to strengthen prevention, improve emergency readiness, support student mental health, and modernize safety systems.
Schools that understand their safety gaps, camera coverage, emergency response workflows, and allowable-use priorities will be better prepared for the next 31aa application window.
Planning ahead can help schools answer important questions such as:
- What safety needs are most urgent across our district?
- Where do we have camera coverage, and where are the gaps?
- Do our emergency response tools work together?
For districts considering AI gun detection, this planning window is a great time to take stock of current camera coverage, walk through existing emergency workflows, and think about how firearm detection software could fit into a broader, layered safety strategy.
How the 31aa(2) Per-Pupil Funding Works
Under the FY2025–26 structure, MDE described 31aa(2) as the Per Pupil Mental Health and School Safety Grant. Eligible recipients could opt in through the Grant Electronic Monitoring System/Michigan Administrative Review System, known as GEMS/MARS, via MiLogin.
For the per-pupil portion, funding is tied to eligibility, opt-in requirements, and pupil count.
What Schools Should Know About the Waiver Requirement
One of the most discussed parts of Section 31aa has been the waiver requirement tied to accepting funds.
Under the current law, school districts accepting funding must agree to be subject to a comprehensive investigation and waive certain privileges in the event of a mass casualty incident. This provision has raised legal and governance questions for some districts.
The waiver has been described as applying to privileges held by the school district and being triggered during a comprehensive investigation following a qualifying mass-casualty event. Because this requirement has legal implications, districts should consult legal counsel and review current MDE guidance before opting in to any future funding round.
This requirement is more accurately described as a privilege-waiver provision related to comprehensive investigations following a mass-casualty event, rather than a general privacy waiver.
What Can Michigan 31aa Funds Be Used For?
Michigan 31aa funding has supported a broad range of mental health and school safety uses.
Allowable mental health uses have included hiring or contracting support staff such as psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, community health workers, behavioral health coordinators, and other qualified professionals. Funds have also supported mental health screening tools, integrated technology platforms, behavioral health consultation, online behavioral health tools, evidence-based mental health training, needs assessments, and resource mapping.
Allowable school safety uses have included coordination with local law enforcement, threat assessment training, threat response training, crisis communication training, student safety management systems, safety infrastructure, emergency response systems, and contracts with vendors for comprehensive safety and security assessments.
For schools evaluating AI gun detection, MDE’s FY2026 allowable-use guidance specifically includes firearm detection software as part of safety infrastructure. The guidance describes safety infrastructure examples such as cameras, door blocks, hardened vestibules, window screening, technology to operate buzzer systems, and firearm detection software.
That makes Section 31aa especially relevant for districts looking to use existing security cameras more proactively.
How AI Gun Detection Fits into Michigan 31aa School Safety Goals
Many Michigan schools already have security cameras in place. But cameras alone are often passive. They depend on someone watching the right screen at the right time, recognizing a threat, and initiating the right response quickly.
Camera environments can vary widely across a school campus, from lighting and angles to distance, resolution, placement, weather, and activity levels. That is why districts should evaluate AI gun detection technology based on how well it performs in real-world camera conditions, not just whether it can analyze video.
In a critical situation, even a short delay can affect how quickly staff and first responders are alerted.
As districts evaluate safety priorities for the next school year, recent Michigan firearm-related data, incident trends, and prevention considerations can provide helpful context for why proactive safety planning remains important.
AI gun detection helps turn existing security cameras into proactive safety tools. Instead of relying only on passive monitoring, AI gun detection can identify a visible firearm when it appears on camera and send an alert for review.
This approach fits naturally with the goals behind Section 31aa funding:
- It helps schools spot visible firearm threats earlier, giving them a chance to act before a situation escalates.
- It gets critical alerts to staff and first responders faster.
- It strengthens coordination during those first few moments of a potential emergency.
- It works with the cameras schools already have, so districts can expand their safety coverage without rebuilding their entire system.
- It connects with existing emergency response tools and communication platforms.
For districts trying to modernize safety without making schools feel more intrusive, AI gun detection can offer a practical way to improve readiness while building on systems already in place.
Omnilert AI Gun Detection for Michigan Schools
Detection is only the first step. Omnilert AI gun detection works with a school’s existing IP security cameras to help identify visible firearms in real time. When a potential threat is detected, the alert goes through human verification before any emergency response steps are activated. That human-in-the-loop model is especially important in school settings, where leaders have to balance speed, accuracy, safety, and community trust.
Once a threat is verified, Omnilert can activate emergency response workflows from the same platform, including notifications, lockdown actions, PA announcements, digital signage, access control, and other tools already in place. That means schools do not have to treat gun detection and emergency response as separate, disconnected systems.
For Michigan schools planning future safety investments, Omnilert may help connect firearm detection software, emergency response systems, crisis communication, and first responder coordination into a more unified safety workflow.
Because funding rules can vary by subsection, timing, and MDE guidance, schools should confirm allowability with MDE, their grant administrator, and legal counsel before making final spending decisions.
Why Schools Should Start Preparing Now
Districts can use this time to review current 31aa allowable uses, identify priority safety gaps, and document how potential investments would strengthen student safety and emergency response. It’s also a good moment to start conversations with internal teams, legal counsel, technology staff, local law enforcement, and potential vendors.
For AI gun detection projects, helpful preparation may include:
- Reviewing current camera locations and overall coverage
- Identifying high-priority areas such as entrances, hallways, gathering spaces, parking lots, athletic facilities, and exterior approaches
- Understanding how verified alerts would reach school staff and first responders
- Walking through emergency response procedures and lockdown workflows
- Determining whether existing systems can support automated notifications or other response actions
- Documenting how firearm detection software would support broader school safety goals
Doing this groundwork now can help schools move quickly once MDE releases updated application guidance, deadlines, and templates.
Omnilert’s Grant Assistance Program Can Help
Navigating school safety funding can take a lot of time, especially when districts are juggling shifting deadlines, allowable use rules, documentation, internal approvals, and legal considerations.
To help with that, Omnilert’s Grant Assistance Program connects schools with EMD, a grant-funding specialist, to support districts in identifying and pursuing federal, state, and local grants that may cover advanced security technology, including AI gun detection and emergency response systems. Through this process, schools can get help reviewing available funding options, understanding which programs align with their safety goals, and preparing stronger documentation to support their investment.
For Michigan schools preparing for the 2026–2027 school year, this support can be especially helpful as districts review updated 31aa requirements, assess carry-forward or extension options, and think through how AI gun detection may align with allowable safety infrastructure, emergency response systems, crisis communication, and threat readiness goals.
Take the Next Step
The next step is turning planning into action. As schools evaluate AI gun detection, they should consider how a solution will identify visible threats, verify alerts, escalate information, and connect to emergency response workflows.
Omnilert can help Michigan schools understand how AI gun detection works with the cameras they already have, how human-verified alerts support faster response, and how connected emergency workflows can help schools move from detection to coordinated action.
If you’d like to see it in action, request a personalized demo to explore how Omnilert’s AI gun detection expands coverage, identifies visible threats in real time, and supports stronger overall emergency readiness.
