House committee backs HB 268 to expand threat-assessment teams, create GEMA-managed S3 student database

The House committee voted to give HB 268 (LC492304S) a due-pass recommendation after a daylong discussion focused on school safety policies and student records. The bill, sponsored by Representative Persinger, would require schools to share relevant student records within five days of transfer requests, establish behavioral threat assessment teams (BTAM) at the school level, create an S3 database managed by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) to log credible threats, provide grants to fund qualified behavioral health coordinator positions at the system level, and increase penalties related to terrorist threats.

Why it matters: Supporters said the package is designed to identify students who pose credible threats and get them services early, and to ensure receiving schools have timely access to a students history of credible threats and related interventions. Critics and some members pressed for clearer due-process language about how a students case can be closed in the database and for protections against disproportionate reporting of Black and brown students.

Representative Persinger summarized the bills main provisions at the start of the hearing: "HB 268 requires all relevant student records, including education and disciplinary records, to be shared with the receiving…