{"id":274423,"date":"2026-05-17T20:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/274423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:00:21","slug":"florida-governor-signs-bill-for-armed-guardians-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/274423\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Governor Signs Bill for Armed Guardians in Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 On May 15, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 757, which broadens the state\u2019s approach to school safety. The law now permits public colleges and universities to create voluntary armed guardian programs, and it became effective immediately after his signature.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The legislation allows public postsecondary institutions to train and arm faculty and staff voluntarily to respond to campus threats. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The law\u2019s immediate effect allows schools to begin training personnel over the summer in preparation for the upcoming academic year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Each Florida public postsecondary institution can choose to implement the armed guardian program, which is optional. The law also increases penalties for firearm offenses near schools. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a campus is now classified as a level six felony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Beyond the armed guardian programs, House Bill 757 mandates additional safety requirements for colleges. These include the development of threat-management teams, improved alert systems and comprehensive active assailant response plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">These institutions are permitted to prepare their selected faculty and staff members for the upcoming academic year under the provisions of the newly enacted law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779048021_699_APP DOWNLOAD LOCAL_1541693885678.jpg_13622062_ver1.0.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 On May 15, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 757, which broadens the state\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[117234,115402,54547,29162,4169,16779,1579,558,16007,29164,6157,5566,4403,6037,11754,28966,113,49786,117235,29166,28,30,29,24415,1182,22138,1458,18466,28969,75200,29171,10327,29172,7453,117236,3990,660,11767,117237,8641,531,117238,23670,97217,1769,2956,15787,2315,6343,8301,117239,9711],"class_list":["post-274423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-academic","tag-auditorium","tag-back-to-school","tag-blackboard","tag-board","tag-bright","tag-building","tag-business","tag-chair","tag-chalkboard","tag-class","tag-classroom","tag-college","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-desk","tag-education","tag-educational","tag-elearning","tag-empty","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-furniture","tag-green","tag-hall","tag-high","tag-indoors","tag-interior","tag-knowledge","tag-learn","tag-learning","tag-lesson","tag-meeting","tag-new-normal","tag-nobody","tag-office","tag-pandemic","tag-projector","tag-room","tag-school","tag-schoolroom","tag-seat","tag-seminar","tag-space","tag-student","tag-study","tag-table","tag-training","tag-university","tag-whiteboard","tag-wooden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}