Florida’s ‘School Guardian’ Legislation Expands Beyond Just Arming Staff, Committee Analysis Reveals

In St. Petersburg, Florida, the “School Guardian” bill, officially designated as Bill CS/HB 757, has been introduced in the Florida House of Representatives. This bill, if enacted, would permit employees and faculty at public post-secondary schools to undergo specialized training, empowering them to act as armed security during active shooter situations on campus.

State Representative Michelle Salzman introduced the bill on December 12. Since then, it has successfully moved through the Judiciary and the Education and Employment Committees. The Budget Committee is scheduled to review it in their upcoming meeting on February 10.

The scope of CS/HB 757 extends beyond merely arming school personnel, according to its detailed analyses.

Reports from both the Judiciary and Education and Employment Committees indicate that the bill would enforce stricter penalties for anyone discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school during operational hours or near school-related events, further enhancing the safety measures in educational environments.

If someone discharges a gun within 1,000 feet of a school, they will be charged with a second-degree felony, and if arrested, will remain in custody until their first appearance hearing, the bill says.

This proposal will also push for the promotion and use of FortifyFL, a mobile suspicious activity reporting tool. 

According to the bill and its analyses, it will also permit the transfer of K-12 school records regarding student behavior, threat assessments, and psychological evaluations when a student enrolls in the Florida College System or a state university.

In addition, the bill aims to push for safety specialists to explain the purpose, importance, and proper execution of school safety training, protocols and procedures, and will get schools to adopt the following:

• An active assailant response plan
• Annual security risk assessments
• Staff training to detect and respond to mental health issues
• Connect students with authorized mental health services
• Establish threat management team

Part of implementing the bill will require the State Board of Education and Board of Governors to adopt rules and provisions related to the bill, such as a process to transfer student records to higher education institutions.

According to the analyses, the Guardian Program is designed to train qualified school personnel to serve as armed guards to respond during school shootings or threats. The candidates who enroll in the training will need to have a concealed gun license, pass a psychological evaluation and drug tests, and go through a 144-hour training program conducted by certified instructors.

For a public or charter school employee to go through training, the school leadership will need to approve it. Then, the employee will need to go through the training. School staff and sheriffs providing the training will be reimbursed, “so there is no cost to the public postsecondary educational institutions or the sheriff,” one analysis reads.

Private schools will be responsible for all costs associated with the training.

Since the training can only be provided by authorized instructors, such as sheriffs enrolled to provide it, if a school is within a county that does not or won’t offer the training, the school officials can reach out to another county sheriff’s office to ask for the training.

While the bill was recently introduced, similar programs have already been in place for years. In 2018, the Polk County School Board approved several candidates who applied to become guardians hired by the Polk County Schools and trained by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, making it one of the first Tampa Bay area counties to run a program of this nature.