NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Bulletproof backpacks may soon be allowed in New Orleans public schools.

An Orleans Parish School Board committee has approved allowing the bags, and The New Orleans Advocate reports that it appears the proposal will get enough to pass when the full board votes Thursday. The school district's attorney, Kathy Moss, says the board is not required to pass the policy change, but the district would like to give families the option.

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a proposal in June to let students wear the backpacks on school property or school buses. The measure was one of roughly two dozen gun bills filed this year, most stemming from the shooting at a Florida high school in February that killed 17 people.