BATON ROUGE - Do you believe parents should be held accountable if their child makes a school threat? A state lawmaker believes so.

Earlier this year, a potential threat was investigated at Walker High School, and in February, Central High School went on lockdown after receiving a threatening phone call.

"Every single threat costs a lot of money because you're taking all of your resources to go to that school, and there is a cost to the taxpayers," House Speaker Pro-Tem Mike Johnson said.

A bill moving through the state legislature creates consequences for both a student and their parents if they make a threat towards the school.

Johnson says he authored House Bill 137 not to punish anyone, but to try to deter these threats from happening. 

"Fourteen to 18 is the age we see, for the most part. There is currently no real consequence for the children," Johnson said.

For the first offense, the proposed law would require a mental exam. Depending on the severity of the offense, other penalties include probation or juvenile detention.

Johnson says if the threat was a clear failure of parenting, parents could face a civil penalty. A fine of up to $5,000 for the first offense, and for any offense after that, it could go up to $10,000. 

"We can't go into every house and tell every parent how to parent or the custodian of the child, so we try to do something that puts some teeth to it because the whole point is not punishment but safety."

The bill would require school teachers, within the first 5 days of school,  to inform students about what is right and wrong and what the consequences can be. Both students and parents would have to sign off. 

Jessica Edwards is the mother of a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. She says while school threats are unfortunately part of our world today, she doesn't necessarily point to parents right away in these kinds of situations.

"It depends on the situation, it depends on the parents, it depends on how they were raised in the home, so all of that I think is just circumstantial. It can't be black or white, you know cause not every family, not every kid is the same," Edwards said.

Parent Nureaka Ross says she thinks lawmakers should look at other alternatives.

"You can be a great parent. Once your child is at school, they may behave in a different manner," Ross said.

The bill passed the House and now heads to the Senate committee.