by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – A Georgia Senate committee advanced legislation Wednesday that would double the amount of money that families of teachers and other public school employees would receive when their loved ones are killed at school.
House Bill 105 would double to $150,000 the compensation for victims of violence “in the line of duty,” putting it in parity with the indemnification for police officers killed on the job.
It is an acknowledgement of the increasing risk of death in schools, such as the mass shooting last fall at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, who presented the bill to the Senate Education and Youth Committee.
“Through this legislation, our state will be able to better support families who have lost loved ones in their service of our children. We live in a scarry world and unfortunately this is a necessity,” Hatchett said. “We hope and pray it’s never used, but if and when it’s needed, it’s there.”
The measure by Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, would increase the $75,000 indemnification established in 2000, a year after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, which at the time was seen as a shocking and extreme development.
The payout would cover any school employee killed while working at school.
The compensation to families of police officers was raised from $100,000 in 2017 to the current $150,000. The money comes from a trust fund of about $3 million.
HB 105 would not increase the $75,000 payout to school employees who are permanently disabled by a shooter or other assailant at school.
The measure passed the House of Representatives 168-0 last month and passed the Senate committee by a unanimous vote. It now goes to the Senate Rules Committee before a possible vote by the full Senate.
