--- title: HB 550. Education; promise scholarship accounts; require participating schools to prepare school safety plans that meet certain requirements collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hb550 cite_as: HB 550, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb550 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb550.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb550/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70587 date: 2025-02-24 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb549.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb551.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb550.md?full=1 bill_number: HB 550 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: bill status_date: 2025-02-20 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Eric Bell - Steven Sainz - Rick Townsend - David Wilkerson - Patty Stinson text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB550/2025 upstream_id: 1978255 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - school safety - Promise Scholarship - private school vouchers - education savings accounts --- # HB 550. Education; promise scholarship accounts; require participating schools to prepare school safety plans that meet certain requirements ## Text House Bill 550 By: Representatives Bell of the 75th, Sainz of the 180th, Townsend of the 179th, Wilkerson of the 38th, and Stinson of the 150th A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT To amend Code Section 20-2B-23 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to requirements for participating schools, responsibilities of education savings authority, prohibited requirements, and agency not established, so as to require participating schools to prepare school safety plans that meet certain requirements; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Code Section 20-2B-23 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to requirements for participating schools, responsibilities of education savings authority, prohibited requirements, and agency not established, is amended by adding a new subsection to read as follows: "(h) Each participating school shall prepare a school safety plan that meets the requirements for school safety plans of public schools as set forth in Code Section 20-2-1185." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. House Bill 550 would require private schools that accept Georgia's Promise Scholarship voucher funds to prepare school safety plans matching the same standards required of public schools. ### Plain-language summary Georgia's Promise Scholarship Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-23) lets families use state education savings accounts to pay for private school tuition and related expenses at approved 'participating schools.' Currently, the law does not require those participating schools to have a formal school safety plan. This bill adds a new requirement: each participating school must prepare a school safety plan that meets the same requirements already set out for public schools in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1185. The bill does not create new safety plan standards itself; it simply extends the existing public school safety plan rules to private schools that take Promise Scholarship money. The bill repeals any conflicting laws and does not state a specific effective date beyond the standard process for bills becoming law. ### What it does - Adds a new subsection to O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-23 requiring participating schools in the Promise Scholarship program to prepare a school safety plan. - Ties the new requirement to the existing school safety plan standards already required of public schools under O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1185. - Repeals any existing laws that conflict with this new safety plan requirement. ### Who it affects Private schools that participate in Georgia's Promise Scholarship education savings account program, the families who use those scholarship accounts, and the state education savings authority that oversees the program and its participating schools. ### Why it matters Families using Promise Scholarship funds at private schools would gain assurance that those schools follow the same safety planning standards as public schools, potentially affecting how participating private schools prepare for emergencies like intruders or natural disasters. ### Key provisions - Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-23 by adding subsection (h), requiring each participating school to prepare a school safety plan. - The new subsection cross-references O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1185, meaning participating schools must meet the same safety plan requirements already imposed on public schools. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision with no independent substantive effect. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-02-20) - Last action: House Second Readers (2025-02-24) - Sponsors: Eric Bell, Steven Sainz, Rick Townsend, David Wilkerson, Patty Stinson - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/70587 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb550.md?full=1