Georgia school emergency plan law

Who must have a school safety plan in Georgia?

Georgia law requires every public school to prepare a school safety plan. Each local school system and public school must update its plan to include a behavioral threat assessment management plan. By a State Charter Schools Commission rule, state charter schools must prepare a safety plan under the same statute, and submit it to the local emergency management agency by July 1 of each year of the charter. The Commission's June 2026 guide tells state charter schools they must complete a school safety plan under §§ 20-2-1185 and 20-2-1185.1.

What must the plan contain?

The plan must address preparedness for natural disasters, hazardous materials or radiological accidents, and acts of violence and terrorism. Since HB 268 (2025), its stated purposes include addressing students' behavioral health needs and providing a safe place to learn. Plans must include, at a minimum, these strategy areas:

Public school plans must also address or include a further list of security items. Those include security on school-provided transportation and at school events held outside class hours. Since HB 268, plans must include specific plans to control entry to and exit from all buildings and facilities on school property. They must also say whether and when exterior doors and other access points, and doors to classrooms and other teaching spaces, are locked, actively supervised by staff, or both. By January 1, 2027, each public school plan must include behavioral health provisions and a behavioral threat assessment management plan with a structured process involving several disciplines. Plans must be written with input from students and their parents or guardians.

How often must the plan be reviewed?

The statute says school safety plans "shall be reviewed and, if necessary, updated annually." The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS), in guidance, says the plan must be reviewed every year and approved again if it changes substantially.

Who approves the plan?

Public school plans must be submitted for approval to the local emergency management agency. They must also go to the local law enforcement agency and to GEMA/HS. Since HB 268, they also go to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for approval, and behavioral threat assessment management plans go to that department for approval too.

How do schools work with police, fire and emergency management?

Public school plans must be written with input from local law enforcement, juvenile court, fire service, public safety and emergency management agencies, among others. As part of the plan, schools must provide for coordination with local law enforcement and the local juvenile court system. Under a separate law, each public school had to obtain school mapping data (building information, floor plans and aerial images) by July 1, 2026. Mapping data must be checked for accuracy by July 1 each year through an in-person inspection, and must label rooms, doors, stairwells and hallways with the names staff and students use. Local school systems must work with, and get agreement from, their main local police agency before buying mapping data. GEMA/HS may make rules for mapping data, including encrypting it and sending it securely to police, firefighters and other first responders. Under another separate law, each public school had to put in place a mobile panic alert system (Alyssa's Alert) by July 1, 2026.

What training and drills are tied to the plan?

Every public school must hold drills on carrying out its school safety plan, in a form and at intervals based on GEMA/HS guidance. GEMA/HS guidance says state law requires it to provide training and technical help on emergency management and safe school operations to school systems.

Is the plan confidential?

The Office of Legislative Counsel's official summary says HB 763 (2018) added school safety plans to the list of public records that do not have to be disclosed. Mapping information given to GEMA/HS is exempt from public disclosure to the extent the Open Records Act exemption section provides.

What guidance does the state publish?

GEMA/HS publishes a State of Georgia Guide for School Safety Plans (2026 edition), which reflects Georgia law signed as of July 1, 2025. The guide says its maps must mark Incident Command and Reunification locations. It says students with disabilities are entitled to the same emergency services as their peers.

How is it enforced?

State Board grant rules for student advocacy specialist funding must make the grants depend on the district following § 20-2-1185. The same 2018 official summary says HB 763 lets public schools ask for funding help for facilities, technology or other safety improvements.

What changed recently?

HB 268 was signed in April 2025 and took effect on the Governor's approval. HB 268 added the behavioral health and threat assessment strategy areas, the door locking and access plans, the mapping data law and the Alyssa's Alert law described above. HB 550 (2025-2026), which would have required Promise Scholarship schools to prepare safety plans, was not enacted; it had no action after referral to House Education by the session's final status sheet of May 14, 2026. SB 454 (2026, temporary door locking devices) passed the Senate on March 6, 2026 but was sent back to a House committee on March 27, 2026 and was not enacted.