MACON, Ga. (WGXA) — As the 2025 Georgia legislative session concluded, lawmakers passed several school safety and education bills, including House Bill 268. This comprehensive bill, over 50 pages long, focuses on the safety, health, and well-being of students and school communities and went into effect this month.
On Wednesday, educators and mental health experts in Middle Georgia convened for a panel discussion to explore the best ways to implement the new law in schools.
Darlene Lynch from the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice emphasized the importance of collaboration. “We’re looking at middle Georgia. We’re trying to bring together educators, mental health providers, community leaders, and parents, and all work together to implement this new law and also make our schools better for kids and teachers,” she said.
The Georgia Education Climate Coalition provided these statistics:
Climate- 13% of Middle GA Schools have 1-2 star ratings (13 schools out of 100). This is about the same as the state average (300/2200 schools statewide)
Attendance- Georgia has 19.5% rate of chronic absenteeism that is declining, but still higher than pre-COVID.
- In Bibb, more than 1 in 4 kids are chronically absent (28.5%)
- Twiggs is 25%
- Crawford is 24%
- Jones is 21%.
Out-of-School Suspension (OSS)- The state OSS rate is 6.9%. The number has been going down post-COVID, but still not at pre-COVID levels. According to the coalition, Middle Georgia schools are using OSS at about the state rate, with several dramatic outliers, relying on OSS more than 2x as often.
- Bibb 13%
- Peach 11.3%
- Twiggs 18%
- Baldwin 13%
- Hancock 17%
- Washington 15%
They also state that most school districts in the Middle Georgia area have only two school counselors for every 1,000 students, and several districts lack social workers and psychologists.
Morgan Stinson, Mental Health Director at Community Health Care Systems, highlighted the growing stress among children across the state.
“School can be a source of stress, but also things going on in the family and in the community, and not having the access points to kinda get the help and support that they need,” Stinson said. One of their goals is to partner with Middle Georgia schools to ensure children do not slip through the cracks.
Lynch expressed optimism about the potential positive changes in Georgia schools. “We’re delighted that all these folks came out from middle Georgia to connect with each other and say what can we do. I’m really hopeful that we’ll start to see schools talking to mental health providers, and parents talking with…and I hope that all of that will mean that kids will be better off after this session,” she said.
Full context on House Bill 268:
