(Georgia Recorder) — A bill that sets up new security protocols that are intended to prevent another school shooting in Georgia is now in the governor’s hands.
The 57-page proposal is a priority for House Speaker Jon Burns this year. When the measure came back to the House for a final vote Monday, it was missing some key elements from an earlier version such as a student database meant to help school districts communicate but that raised concerns that it would stigmatize students and hurt their future opportunities.
Burns, along with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, issued a joint statement Monday celebrating the bill’s passage. In September, a 14-year-old accused gunman killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Barrow County and injured nine others.
The bill, sponsored by Winder Republican Rep. Holt Persinger, attempts to address what is seen as a communication lapse that preceded the shooting. The year before the shooting, Colt Gray was interviewed by law enforcement regarding threatening social media posts targeting another school in Jackson County – information that did not follow Gray to Barrow County.
The measure would require districts to transfer a student’s records to a new district within five days, and it would set up a statewide alert system about potential threats to schools.
Cowsert said the bill also attempts to target the common denominator of many of the school shootings nationwide: mental health. The proposal creates “qualified student advocacy specialists” who will focus on identifying troubled students and connecting them with mental health services, and it requires students to participate in training for suicide awareness and youth violence prevention.
The Senate also added another bill that would require all public schools to install a panic button system. Apalachee High School had issued panic buttons to its teachers a week before the shooting and that is credited with helping law enforcement respond quickly to the campus.
The bill also increases penalties for terroristic acts, and it would treat children between ages 13 to 17 as adults when they face charges for terroristic acts at school, attempted murder and aggregate aggravated assault if committed with a firearm.
“That is beyond just school safety,” said Sen. RaShaun Kemp, an Atlanta Democrat who voted against the bill. “So, this could capture, for example, a kid who has been wrapped up in a gang, and their lives could be drastically changed as a result of this.”
Democrats have pressed for legislation requiring safe gun storage in the wake of the shooting. But a House bill that was originally designed to encourage safe gun storage is now limited to firearm training and includes a controversial tax break on firearm purchases.
Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat who has filed a bill requiring safe firearm storage, floated an amendment Monday that called for distributing information on gun safety through the school systems. Parent withdrew the proposal after Cowsert said he would join forces with her to do that as a separate measure.
Parent said her proposal takes a cue from Texas, although lawmakers there mandated safe storage after the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022.
“It’s simply an education piece,” Parent said of her proposal. “It’s not unlike the violence and suicide prevention pieces of (House Bill 268). I view it as a no-downside way to try to make our kids and our schools a bit safer.”
