Short answer
The Nonpublic School Safety Equipment (NPSE) grant is a New York State program that reimburses religious and independent schools for certain school safety and health expenses.
For the current cycle, Years 11 to 13, the state allocated $185 million to the program, calculated per pupil.
It is a reimbursement grant. Your school pays first, then claims.
These are the dates in NYSED's documents for this cycle:
- December 1, 2026, pre-approval: have NYSED's written pre-approval in hand for any item not on its list.
- December 1, 2026, pre-pooling form: affiliated schools that qualify to pool allocations file their pre-pooling form by this date.
- December 31, 2026, payment: pay for items and services, with the payments cleared.
- The application date is not settled: NYSED's Year 11-13 guidance gives January 14, 2027, but its compliance toolkit lists December 1, 2026. Confirm the application deadline with NYSED before relying on the later date.
The two December 1 deadlines for pre-approval and pooling are separate steps from the application, and they are not part of that discrepancy.
If your school is weighing safety purchases this fall, those dates are the planning calendar.
Is your school eligible?
NYSED has already decided which schools are eligible, using its own data. Its criteria are:
- A religious or independent school that is non-profit or not-for-profit.
- Currently open and operating as of July 1, 2025.
- 853 and 4201 schools that meet the other criteria.
- A valid Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) Vendor ID, or one the school will obtain.
- A NYSED-issued BEDS code.
- BEDS enrollment for grades K-12 in 2022-2023, 2023-2024 or 2024-2025.
Not sure whether your school is on the list? NYSED publishes each school's allocation for this cycle on its NPSE page.
The dates for this cycle
- Pre-approval of an item not on NYSED's list: on or before December 1, 2026.
- Pre-pooling form (affiliated schools that qualify to pool, see below): on or before December 1, 2026.
- Purchases paid and cleared: on or before December 31, 2026.
- Application submitted in the NYSED Business Portal: NYSED's Year 11-13 guidance gives January 14, 2027, but its compliance toolkit lists December 1, 2026. Confirm the application deadline with NYSED before relying on the later date.
What the sources say about the application date: the guidance's list of dates gives "Application: submission before midnight on 1/14/2027". Its application section says NYSED must receive the complete submission and all accompanying documents in the NYSED Business Portal by 1/14/2027. NYSED's program page gives a claim submission deadline of 1/14/2027. Its solicitation notice says "The submission deadline for the Year 11-13 NPSE Grant is 1/14/2027". Its question-and-answer page refers deadline questions to the guidance. The compliance toolkit's application review matrix lists "Application was completed and submitted on/by 12/1/26" as a requirement, marks a failure to meet it as not correctable through a Request for Clarification and Documentation, and gives the result "Immediate Denial". Both the guidance and the toolkit are dated August 2026.
What remains unresolved: when we checked NYSED's published NPSE pages and documents on November 4, 2026, we found no statement that explains or corrects the difference. Which date NYSED applies is for NYSED to say, so ask NYSED at NPSE-ORISS@nysed.gov.
NYSED reviews applications on a rolling basis and encourages schools to submit "as early as possible".
Pooling lets affiliated schools combine allocations for a shared eligible project, such as a district-wide project, a large shared project or a shared service. NYSED limits it to schools that share payee details (payee name and OSC Vendor ID), each with an allocation for this cycle and no application for this cycle already submitted. NYSED's pooling toolkit sets the requirements.
How much your school can claim
NYSED calculates a per-pupil amount and multiplies it by your school's BEDS enrollment. Year 11 uses 2022-2023 enrollment, Year 12 uses 2023-2024 and Year 13 uses 2024-2025.
The $185 million covers three grant years. NYSED's guidance allocates $45 million to Year 11 and $70 million each to Years 12 and 13.
Rollover and AUE are different things:
- Rollover adds to what you can claim. Allocations from Years 1 to 10 that your school never claimed carry forward. Your Year 11-13 allocation plus any rollover is the most NYSED can reimburse your school this cycle.
- AUE is expenses, not extra money. Approved, unreimbursed expenses are costs NYSED approved in earlier years but has not yet paid. You claim them against that same balance in your application, without resubmitting their expense documentation.
- Check for an AUE freeze before you plan new purchases. If your school's approved, unreimbursed expenses equal or exceed its available funding, NYSED places the account in an "AUE Freeze". The school cannot submit new expenses for Years 11-13 and files an abbreviated AUE-only claim instead.
What the eligibility list covers for safety technology
NYSED's eligibility list for this cycle is marked "Updated 8/26/26". Below are selected rows that matter for safety technology. We quote the descriptions from the list. Category names follow the list, with one spelling corrected (the list spells "Responce").
The list also sets a purchase window for each category. A purchase counts only if it falls inside its category's window, which ends December 31, 2026.
Named as eligible:
- Security, Communication Equipment/Systems/Tools: "Panic buttons, parent notification system, public announcement system, visitor intercom, walkie-talkies/radios".
- Secured Building Entrance: "Bulletproof glass, door hardening frame/bars/grills/hardware, glass/security films or tinted films, metal detectors/wands, visitor ID printer and badges".
- Security Systems: "Alarm system, internal/external cameras & affiliated recording devices, central lockdown, monitoring system, motion detectors, remote electronic door unlatching, software to locate & account for students, system maintenance/service call".
- Vulnerability/Safety Assessment: "School security assessment & building mapping".
- Active Shooter Response Training: "School Employees (with sign in/out attendance sheet and certificate of completion)".
The four security rows above carry a purchase window beginning April 1, 2013. Active shooter response training sits in the list's prevention training block, whose purchase window begins April 1, 2017.
Marked as not eligible:
- Digital ID Screening Systems: "Scan and compare results with law enforcement databases".
- Vape detectors.
- Cyber Security, Prevention: "Monthly monitoring services".
Read the rows as written. A row that names panic buttons covers panic buttons. It does not settle every product a vendor calls by a different name. When the fit is not obvious, use the pre-approval route below.
A category on the list does not guarantee reimbursement. NYSED still reviews each line item against its documentation and its purchase window, and items it cannot verify are ineligible for the cycle.
Items the list does not name
If your item is not on the list, email NYSED at NPSE-ORISS@nysed.gov and ask.
NYSED's guidance says pre-approval for unlisted expenditures "must be obtained no later than 12/1/2026". Its important dates list gives December 1, 2026 for submission of the pre-approval request.
Keep the approval email. You upload it with your application.
Ask early enough to have the written pre-approval for unlisted items by December 1, 2026. That date comes before the purchase deadline, not after it.
Paperwork that keeps a line item eligible
Documentation supports your reimbursement request. NPSE reimburses expenses already paid, so NYSED's review rests on proof.
For each new expense, upload proof of purchase and proof of payment that connect. Expenses NYSED approved in earlier cycles (AUE) do not need those documents again.
A checklist for new expenses, from NYSED's guidance and its compliance toolkit:
- Itemized invoice. It names and describes each security item or service. The toolkit says NYSED rejects vague summaries or un-itemized cost packages.
- Delivery or completion shown. The invoice shows that the vendor delivered the items or completed the service at the school site.
- Invoice date inside the purchase window.
- Invoice details match your SEDREF record. The guidance requires every invoice to match the active institutional data fields in SEDREF. NYSED treats a mismatch as insufficient proof and omits that item from the cycle. Ask the vendor to correct a mismatched invoice before you submit.
- Proof of payment for every invoice. Bank statements or canceled checks, normally from an account with a direct, verifiable legal link to the school's official name on SEDREF. NYSED's toolkit allows one exception per school per claim cycle: a staff member's emergency out-of-pocket payment, never for security guard services, documented by both the employee's personal bank or credit card statement showing the payment to the vendor and the school's formal financial ledger showing the school reimbursed the employee in full. Without a seamless trail from purchase to payment, the line item is ineligible.
- Paid and cleared by December 31, 2026.
- Training records include the sign-in and sign-out sheet and the certificate of completion.
- Pre-approval email uploaded for any unlisted item.
- One application per BEDS code for the cycle.
- Consolidated vendor invoices where it fits. NYSED prioritizes applications by documentation quality and complexity, encourages consolidated vendor invoices, and moves applications with systemic errors or missing documents to the back of the review queue.
- OSC Vendor ID active and registered in the State Financial System. NYSED cannot pay a school without it.
NYSED's guidance for this cycle says a school receives at most one Request for Clarification and Documentation. You then have 10 business days to respond, and you can ask for an extension before that deadline. A request is not guaranteed: if your eligible expenses already use your full balance, NYSED processes the application as submitted, and items it cannot verify are ineligible for this cycle. Submit complete documentation the first time.
Funding the same cost twice
NYSED does not permit funding the same eligible costs from more than one source, including federal, state and local grants.
The rule is about costs, not whole invoices. When another program pays part of an invoice, NYSED's answer is to submit only the unreimbursed items or services. The applicant certifies that it has not claimed reimbursement for the NPSE items under any other New York City, New York State or federal reimbursement program.
The guidance names two programs in its duplicate-funding restriction: the 4201 Capital Grant Program and the NYC Nonpublic School Security Reimbursement Program.
If your school also uses another grant for safety purchases, claim distinct items under each program, never the same cost twice. Our New York school safety funding page lists other programs available in New York, and our guide to panic buttons for churches and NSGP grants covers one federal program.
Where Positive Proof fits
Here is how Positive Proof's products line up with NYSED's list. The list decides eligibility. We do not. Being in a named category does not guarantee that NYSED reimburses a particular purchase.
Panic buttons (named on the list). In Positive Proof's facility configuration, staff wear a two-button badge of credit-card size. A press and hold sends an alert to the people you choose, with where the press happened, and every alert carries a timestamped delivery record. See Positive Proof Panic Buttons.
Visitor badges (named on the list as "visitor ID printer and badges"). Positive Proof supplies visitor badges, labels and temporary access stickers. See visitor stickers.
Visitor screening. Our visitor management system screens visitors against the sex offender database. NYSED's list marks the category "Digital ID Screening Systems", described as "Scan and compare results with law enforcement databases", as not eligible. Ask NYSED how that applies to the itemized purchase you are considering.
Door monitoring and gunshot detection (not named). Door monitoring puts a wireless sensor on a door and alerts the people you choose when a door is propped or held open past the limit you set. Gunshot detection confirms a gunshot by matching a sound with an air-pressure change. The Security Systems row lists an alarm system and a monitoring system, but it does not name either product. Ask early enough to have NYSED's written pre-approval by December 1, 2026, and keep the email.
Next step
Check your school's allocation on NYSED's NPSE page and compare what you plan to buy with the eligibility list.
An itemized quote helps with that check. Each line names one item or service, so you can compare it with NYSED's list, see which lines need pre-approval, and keep any line NYSED's list marks as not eligible out of your claim.
If you are considering any of the products above, request an itemized quote and tell us your school and what you are considering. For anything NYSED's list does not name, obtain pre-approval by December 1, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the NPSE grant?
A New York State program that reimburses religious and independent schools for certain school safety and health expenses. For Years 11 to 13, the state allocated $185 million, calculated per pupil from each school's BEDS enrollment.
What is the NPSE deadline for Years 11-13?
Items and services must be paid, with the payments cleared, on or before December 31, 2026. Pre-approval for items not on NYSED's list must be obtained by December 1, 2026, and affiliated schools that pool allocations file the pre-pooling form by the same date. The application date is not settled: NYSED's Year 11-13 guidance gives January 14, 2027, but its compliance toolkit lists December 1, 2026. Confirm the application deadline with NYSED before relying on the later date.
Are panic buttons eligible for NPSE reimbursement?
NYSED's eligibility list for this cycle names panic buttons as eligible under "Security, Communication Equipment/Systems/Tools". The list's security rows, including panic buttons, carry a purchase window beginning April 1, 2013. The cycle's purchase window ends December 31, 2026. Being on the list does not guarantee reimbursement of a particular purchase: each new expense still needs proof of purchase and proof of payment.
Does NPSE pay for a visitor management system?
The list names "visitor ID printer and badges" as eligible. It does not establish eligibility for an entire visitor management system, and it marks "Digital ID Screening Systems" ("Scan and compare results with law enforcement databases") as not eligible. Ask NYSED about the itemized purchase.
What if the item I want is not on NYSED's list?
Email NPSE-ORISS@nysed.gov early enough to obtain pre-approval by December 1, 2026. Upload the approval email with your application.
Can we use NPSE and another grant for the same purchase?
Not for the same cost. NYSED does not permit funding the same eligible costs from more than one source, including federal, state and local grants. If another program paid part of an invoice, submit only the unreimbursed items or services to NPSE.
