School safety package ready for Governor’s signature

A bill sponsors say will enhance school safety measures has earned a second unanimous vote, moving to the Governor’s desk for signature.

Zephyrhills Republican Sen. Danny Burgess sponsored the bill (SB 1740). It was sent back to the Senate after the House amended it to make several changes.

“This is the school safety package that we passed off the floor,” Burgess said. “The House has added an amendment that authorizes child care facilities to partner with law enforcement or security agencies to assign safe schools officers with full responsibility for training and implementation costs to the Guardian Program.”

The House amendment also clarified that temporary door locks may be used during active assailant incidents, while replacing school supervision hours with a fixed window that is currently in law that deals with 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after a school day begins or ends.

“It also removes provisions clarifying the use of K9s by district-employed law enforcement,” Burgess said. “But they did retain in our bill provisions to strengthen school safety across Florida with common sense reforms that reflect input from schools, law enforcement, and state agencies.”

Burgess added this will reinforce consistent training standards and clarify locked campus in-classroom procedures to help balance the need for safety against efficiencies.

A previous amendment made during the bill’s passage through committee would have required the Florida Department of Education to establish and maintain a centralized system that integrates panic alert systems and digital maps used by public schools, charter schools and other educational institutions.

The House amendment, however, removed the $450,000 appropriations provision in the original bill’s filing for panic alarm alert systems that link schools to law enforcement and first responders. Instead, the panic alarm alert system’s implementation will now be subject to appropriations.