Florida lawmakers consider arming staff on college campuses under school safety bill

Expanding Florida's 'School Guardian' program

A controversial school safety bill is making its way through the Florida house. FOX 13's Matthew McClellan shares the questions being asked and takes a closer look at the proposal.

TALLAHASSEE - A wide-ranging school safety bill moving through the Florida House could bring armed faculty or staff members to public college and university campuses for the first time.

HB 757 would allow public post-secondary institutions to opt into Florida’s school guardian program, which currently applies to K–12 schools. Under the proposal, faculty or staff could carry firearms on campus after completing extensive training, passing psychological evaluations, and receiving certification from the local sheriff. Critically, this would not apply to students. 

The bill also creates a new second-degree felony for discharging a firearm on school property or within one thousand feet of a school during school hours or sanctioned events. Anyone arrested under that provision would be held in custody until appearing before a judge for bail.

Colleges would also be required to adopt active assailant response plans, campus-wide emergency alert systems, family reunification plans, and threat management teams. Annual campus security risk assessments would become mandatory.

What they're saying:

Rep. Michelle Salzman, the bill's sponsor, told lawmakers the proposal was driven by recent active shooter scares on college campuses, including one last April at Florida State University.

"Active shooters and bomb threats typically happen in places that are vulnerable," Salzman said. "Places that don’t have a plan, that don’t have infrastructure or security on that site."

Salzman, a former FSU student, said Florida currently has no statewide safety framework for higher education. "There were no footprints in the nation for this," she said, calling the bill an effort to adapt Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas school safety law to colleges.

READ: Florida lawmaker introduces campus safety bill to allow open carry, expand guardian program

The other side:

Critics warn that introducing more firearms onto college campuses could increase the risk of accidents or confusion during emergencies, especially in open campus environments.

Others have raised concerns about privacy, particularly provisions requiring certain threat and disciplinary records to follow dual-enrolled students from K–12 schools into college. During committee discussion, Salzman acknowledged lawmakers tried to balance safety with privacy, limiting record-sharing to specific circumstances.

Questions were also raised about whether campus security plans could become public records, potentially exposing vulnerabilities.

What's next:

HB 757 is now in the House Budget Committee. If approved, most provisions would take effect later this year.