Georgia lawmakers are giving up on creating a statewide database to collect information on students who might commit violence, even as they push forward other parts of a school safety bill aimed at preventing a school shooting like the one in September at Apalachee High School.
House and Senate lawmakers unveiled a compromise version of House Bill 268 on Thursday, which then passed the Senate Judiciary committee unanimously. That sets it up for final passage in the closing days of Georgia's 2025 legislative session.
The push to share information was driven by the belief among many that the Barrow County school system didn’t have a full picture of the warning signs displayed by the 14-year-old accused in the fatal shootings of two students and two teachers. But there was loud opposition from both Democratic and Republican constituencies that the database would create a permanent blacklist with no due process that could treat racial and religious minorities unfairly.
“The reason it wasn’t going to fly was pushback from all points of the political spectrum that worried about their child being stigmatized just for an accusation or an uncorroborated complaint,” said Sen. Bill Cowsert, an Athens Republican representing parts of Barrow County.
The compromise version also removed a requirement that all school systems set up formal threat management teams to evaluate whether students may commit violence. That approach is strongly recommended by many national experts, and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency already offers training. House Education Committee Chairman Chris Erwin, a Republican from Homer, said he was hopeful schools would voluntarily adopt the model.
“I think there is a knowledge out there of the importance of planning and preparing already in schools,” Erwin said. “So having a full model structure for the state isn’t as important as maybe we once thought it was.”
The measure would still require police agencies to report to schools when officers learn that a child has threatened death or injury to someone at a school. But those reports aren't mandated to become part of a student's educational record and wouldn't travel with a student if they transfer to another district.
That raises questions about whether the bill addresses one of the key criticisms that followed the Apalachee shooting. School officials never became aware that a sheriff's deputy in Jackson County had interviewed Colt Gray in May 2023 after the FBI passed along a tip that Gray might have posted a shooting threat online. That report would have been forwarded to middle school officials in Jackson County under the bill, but wouldn't have followed Gray when he enrolled as a freshman in nearby Barrow County after skipping eighth grade entirely.
The bill also mandates quicker transfers of records when a student enters a new school, creates at least one new position to help coordinate mental health treatment for students in each of Georgia’s 180 school districts and sets up an anonymous reporting system statewide.
Lawmakers on Thursday added in features of separate Senate bills that had passed. They would mandate that all Georgia public schools provide wearable panic buttons to employees. Public schools would also be required to submit electronic maps of their campuses to local, state and federal agencies once a year.
The amended bill would also make adult prosecution the default when children aged 13 to 16 are charged with terroristic acts at school, any aggravated assault with a gun, or attempted murder. The Senate had originally proposed a broader range of crimes when adult prosecution would be the default. House leaders had said they didn't want to submit any more juveniles to adult prosecution.
