Senators debate statewide student-threat database and alert system; parents and advocates raise privacy and equity concerns

Senate Bill 54 (LC 394489), presented by Senator Jones to the Senate Education and Youth Committee, would direct the State Board of Education to establish a statewide alert system and a database for primary and secondary schools listing students who have been evaluated as posing a threat to school safety. The bill directs the State Board to promulgate rules governing the database and to consult with other agencies as needed; proponents said the system would standardize information-sharing across school systems.

Senator Jones said the measure grew from the firearms safe-storage study committee convened by the lieutenant governor and described three components, with the principal goal to have a common alert system rather than each district developing separate solutions. Jones told the committee the database "would exist of students that pose any kind of threat to, any of the ... school systems…