{"id":274438,"date":"2026-05-17T20:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/274438\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T20:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T20:29:17","slug":"new-law-lets-florida-colleges-train-and-arm-faculty-for-campus-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/274438\/","title":{"rendered":"New law lets Florida colleges train and arm faculty for campus safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The legislation allows public postsecondary institutions to train and arm faculty and staff voluntarily to respond to campus threats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a campus is now classified as a level six felony.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Click here;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Click here&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:click here;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;click here&quot;}\" class=\"link \">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:img;itc:0;\" class=\"stretched-box\" href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"537\" height=\"108\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/beda08358d6db9816e7b0d066edd22cf.jpeg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On May 15, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 757, which broadens the state\u2019s approach to school&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18924,28,30,29,117249,117248,412,15849],"class_list":["post-274438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-colleges-and-universities","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-immediate-effect","tag-public-postsecondary-institutions","tag-ron-desantis","tag-school-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274438","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=274438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}