ATLANTA — As part school safety priorities, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is spearheading an effort for paid training for teachers to carry firearms in schools.

Jones said he’ll push his colleagues to approve funding for his school safety plan when the legislation is introduced during the 2024 legislative session in January.

“This legislation and associated state funding will ensure that our school systems and teachers have the necessary resources and training to increase safety across Georgia,” Jones said. “Systems and individuals will have the option of participating in the training, certification and stipend, and we hope that the General Assembly will support these efforts to build on recent school safety reforms.”

Currently, Georgia law allows local boards of education to adopt or implement a practice or program for personnel trained in firearm use to possess or carry weapons within a school safety zone, at a school function, or on a bus or other transportation furnished by a school.

“The training shall at a minimum include training on judgment pistol shooting, marksmanship, and a review of current laws relating to the use of force for the defense of self and others,” the law states and training can be substituted for prior military or law enforcement service.

It does not appear that any Georgia schools have opted to do so.

Jones’ plan proposes creating the certificated firearms training program specifically for teachers to be funded and maintained by the state.

Annual stipends, proposed at $10,000 and funded by the state, would also be available to teachers who successfully complete the firearms training program and hold a firearms training certificate, according to the plan. The stipend would be in addition to the teacher’s salary. The program is modeled after a proposal that came out of Texas last year after the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

“With this legislation, we will make sure our teachers are more equipped to handle security threats, our schools are even more prepared for emergency situations, and we will expand grant programs to allow schools to hire additional security personnel,” Sen, Clint Dixon, a Gwinnett Republican said. “Adhering to our principles, this legislation will maintain local decision making and will not come with any unfunded mandates.”

The proposal also calls for expanding existing grant programs to allow state funds to be used to hire POST-certified security personnel.

School safety and security remains in the forefront of conversations related to gun reform. 

In a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll of more than 1,000 adults, 51% said they would vote against a congressional candidate who wants to allow teachers to carry guns. Democrats (82%) are more than four times as likely as Republicans (19%) to oppose such a measure.

A PDK of more than 1,000 adults conducted in June 2022 indicated 55% of respondents were opposed tallowing armed teachers.

In an interview conducted in 2022, CNHI interviewed several law enforcement and school leaders in Alabama and Georgia, and a majority of them were less receptive to arming teachers and appeared to have consensus on having armed school resources offices in all schools.

According to the Associated Press, Lisa Morgan, the president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said her group is “categorically” opposed to anyone besides certified officers carrying guns in schools.

“Teachers should not be armed in the classroom,” Morgan said, per the AP. “We are not there to serve as law enforcement, and introducing more firearms into the school is not a way to solve the problem of violence in our schools.”

Alabama Department of Education Superintendent Eric Mackey, when interviewed by CNHI last year on the topic, referenced various scenarios where the proposal could backfire: a teacher leaving students unattended to go shoot an intruder or a teacher accidentally shot by police who could mistake the teacher for the intruder.

“As far as a teacher carrying a weapon on their side, I have strong reservations about that,” Mackey said. “Because if a shooter comes into a school, God forbid, we need the teacher following the protocol, making sure their children are safe, following the ‘Run, hide, fight’ training.”