Florida Senate - 2025                                    SB 1374
       
       
        
       By Senator Yarborough
       
       
       
       
       
       4-01723A-25                                           20251374__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to school district reporting
    3         requirements; amending s. 1012.22, F.S.; requiring
    4         district school boards to adopt a policy temporarily
    5         removing instructional personnel under specified
    6         circumstances; amending s. 1012.797, F.S.; revising
    7         requirements for law enforcement to notify specified
    8         entities when an employee is arrested for certain
    9         offenses; amending s. 1012.799, F.S.; requiring
   10         instructional personnel and administrative personnel
   11         to self-report certain arrests or judgments within
   12         specified timeframes; requiring school districts to
   13         comply with confidentiality provisions; providing an
   14         effective date.
   15          
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Paragraph (j) is added to subsection (1) of
   19  section 1012.22, Florida Statutes, to read:
   20         1012.22 Public school personnel; powers and duties of the
   21  district school board.—The district school board shall:
   22         (1) Designate positions to be filled, prescribe
   23  qualifications for those positions, and provide for the
   24  appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal
   25  of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this
   26  chapter:
   27         (j) Temporary removal from the classroom.—The district
   28  school board shall adopt a policy temporarily removing
   29  instructional personnel from the classroom within 24 hours after
   30  a notification by law enforcement or a self-reporting employee
   31  of his or her arrest for a felony offense or for a misdemeanor
   32  offense listed in s. 435.04(2).
   33         Section 2. Section 1012.797, Florida Statutes, is amended
   34  to read:
   35         1012.797 Notification of certain charges against
   36  employees.—Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 985.04(7) or any
   37  other law to the contrary, a law enforcement agency shall,
   38  within 48 hours, notify the appropriate district school
   39  superintendent, charter school governing board, private school
   40  owner or administrator, president of the Florida School for the
   41  Deaf and the Blind, or university lab schools director or
   42  principal, as applicable, when its employee is arrested for a
   43  felony or a misdemeanor involving an offense listed in s.
   44  435.04(2), the abuse of a minor child, or the sale or possession
   45  of a controlled substance. The notification must shall include
   46  the specific charge for which the employee of the school
   47  district was arrested. Notwithstanding ss. 1012.31(3)(a)1. and
   48  1012.796(4), within 24 hours after such notification, the school
   49  principal or designee shall notify parents of enrolled students
   50  who had direct contact with the employee and include, at a
   51  minimum, the name and specific charges against the employee.
   52         Section 3. Section 1012.799, Florida Statutes, is amended
   53  to read:
   54         1012.799 Reporting certain offenses.—
   55         (1) Instructional personnel or administrative personnel
   56  having knowledge that a sexual battery has been committed by a
   57  student upon another student must report the offense to a law
   58  enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the school plant or
   59  over the place where the sexual battery occurred if not on the
   60  grounds of the school plant.
   61         (2) Instructional personnel and administrative personnel
   62  shall self-report within 48 hours to a school district
   63  authority, as determined by the district superintendent, any
   64  arrest for a felony offense or for a misdemeanor offense listed
   65  in s. 435.04(2). Such self-report is not considered an admission
   66  of guilt and is not admissible for any purpose in any
   67  proceeding, civil or criminal, administrative or judicial,
   68  investigatory or adjudicatory. In addition, instructional
   69  personnel and administrative personnel shall self-report any
   70  conviction, finding of guilt, withholding of adjudication,
   71  commitment to a pretrial diversion program, or entering of a
   72  plea of guilty or nolo contendere for any criminal offense other
   73  than a minor traffic violation within 48 hours after the final
   74  judgment. When handling sealed and expunged records disclosed
   75  under this rule, school districts must comply with the
   76  confidentiality provisions of ss. 943.0585(4)(c) and
   77  943.059(4)(c).
   78         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.