HB47: HB47 School Security Protection and Safety Infrastructure Act; enact

Georgia's school funding formula, known as the Quality Basic Education Act, currently sets program weights that cover costs like building maintenance. This bill adds a new category of funding assistance meant to reimburse public schools for actual costs they incur to reduce school violence and improve safety and security. The State Board of Education would decide each year how much state money is needed for this purpose, subject to the General Assembly actually appropriating (setting aside) the funds. Schools would only qualify if they follow rules the State Board of Education adopts. Eligible spending is limited to specific items: mobile surveillance camera trailers, onsite command centers, weapon detection technology, and systems that detect vaping products, tobacco, or marijuana. The State Board must also create procedures for applying, evaluating requests, calculating funding amounts, and checking each year whether the money is actually reducing violence or improving safety. The law would take effect July 1, 2025, and apply starting with the 2026-2027 school year.

• Adds a new funding category to Georgia's school funding formula (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-183) to reimburse public schools for safety and security costs.
• Limits eligible spending to five specific categories: mobile surveillance camera trailers, onsite command centers, weapon detection technology, vaping and tobacco detection systems, and marijuana detection systems.
• Requires the State Board of Education to set eligibility rules that schools must follow before they can receive this funding.
• Directs the Department of Education to evaluate individual school requests for the funding under procedures the State Board creates.
• Requires an annual state review of whether the funding is actually reducing school violence or improving safety, and ties all funding to money the General Assembly actually appropriates.
• Sets the law to take effect July 1, 2025, applying starting with the 2026-2027 school year.

Public schools and school districts across Georgia, which could apply for this new safety funding; the State Board of Education and Department of Education, which must write rules and evaluate applications; and students, teachers, and staff who would be affected by any new security equipment installed on campus.

If enacted and funded, schools could get state reimbursement for equipment like weapon detectors and surveillance systems, potentially changing daily security procedures such as campus entry screening. The actual impact depends heavily on whether the General Assembly appropriates money each year, since the bill creates the funding category but does not guarantee a specific dollar amount.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'School Security Protection and Safety Infrastructure Act.'
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-183 to add subsection (b), creating 'school security protection and safety infrastructure funds' to reimburse eligible public schools for security costs.
• Subsection (b)(2) requires the State Board of Education to annually determine the funding amount needed, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly.
• Subsection (b)(2)(B) restricts eligible expenditures to mobile surveillance camera trailers, onsite command centers, weapon detection technology, and vaping/tobacco or marijuana detection systems.
• Subsection (b)(3) requires the State Board to adopt rules covering eligibility determinations, application procedures, evaluation procedures, funding calculations, and annual impact assessments.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as July 1, 2025, applicable starting with the 2026-2027 school year.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-01-16House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-15House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-14House Hopper (House)

• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)Primary sponsor
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)

• school safety
• school funding
• weapon detection
• Quality Basic Education Act
• education policy