State superintendent proposes school safety steps in wake of Apalachee High shooting

ATLANTA — State School Superintendent Richard Woods has announced he will push for additional state funding for school safety initiatives during the 2025 General Assembly session in the aftermath of this month’s school shooting in Barrow County.

The goal will be providing a school resource officer and a crisis alert system in every Georgia school.

“Building on the strong commitment to school displayed by Gov. Kemp and the General Assembly in previous sessions — including the addition of line-item funding for school safety in 2024 — these are commonsense measures that will increase the security of schools throughout our state,” Woods said. “There is also early evidence they made a difference at Apalachee.”

Two students and two teachers were shot and killed at Apalachee High School near Winder on Sept. 4, and nine others were injured. Two school resource officers played a key role in taking the 14-year-old shooter, into custody and preventing further violence.

Gov. Brian Kemp has included school safety measures in previous state budgets. This year’s spending plan set aside about $109 million for school districts to use in safety efforts.

The governor also signed the Safe Schools Act last year, which requires schools to conduct “intruder alert drills” and submit school safety plans to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

But legislative Democrats, and some Republicans, are calling for more. Democrats are pushing for legislation requiring gun owners to lock their firearms and store them in a safe place and for a “red flag” law allowing the temporary seizure of firearms from a person deemed a danger to themselves or others.

On the GOP side, Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, late last week called for legislation offering tax credits to Georgians for the purchase of firearm storage safety devices including trigger locks and gun safes. The House overwhelmingly passed a tax-credit bill this year, but it failed to reach the Senate floor for a vote.

Woods also announced Monday that he will propose expanding a state program that promotes mental health counseling in the schools and the enactment of policies requiring more timely and effective sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and school districts.