TALLAHASSEE — A bill is moving through the 2015 Legislature that could impact the decision by the Manatee County school system last year to use armed security guards at public schools.
In a 3-2 vote Monday, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee backed a bill (SB 180), sponsored by Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, that would give the 67 school districts the option of allowing some school personnel or volunteers to carry concealed weapons at schools if they met certain qualifications and training standards.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, who spoke in the bill’s favor and is sponsoring an identical measure (HB 19) in the House, said the House and Senate bills would set higher training standards for armed personnel in schools in contrast to Manatee County, which briefly used security guards last year, although they were unarmed.
Manatee subsequently obtained a legal opinion from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who held that school districts have the authority to determine who and under which circumstances someone could carry a weapon on public school campuses as long as it was a “school-sanctioned event.”
Steube said the current legislation is “directly on point” with the Manatee issue because the bills outline “specifically what school districts can and cannot do.”
“If you go under the current (Attorney General’s) opinion then any of your 67 school districts could do what they wanted to do. And I just don’t think that’s good state policy,” Steube said.
Under Steube’s bill, if a school system opts to allow “school safety designees” to carry concealed weapons at a school, those safety personnel would have to meet stricter standards. It would limit the concealed weapons to safety officials who are current or former military members or law enforcement officers in good standing.
Additionally, they would have to pass a background check and undergo a training course that will be designed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The course will cover such issues as active-shooter training, firearms proficiency, crisis intervention and weapons retention. It would also require the school safety designees to undergo continuing education and training in the future.
Steube said those training standards are much higher than the requirements for guards hired by Manatee County last year who had Class G Security Officer licenses that allowed them to carry guns. It is also more training than is currently required for the school resource officers, who are law enforcement officers now deployed by Florida school systems.
“That training requirement is more highly specialized than what school resource officers get,” Steube said. “To me I would feel much better knowing that these individuals that could possibly carry on school grounds have had to have gone through specific school safety training.”
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee split along party lines, with three Republicans voting for the bill, with two Democrats in opposition.
Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, who opposed the bill, said he understood Steube’s argument for passing the legislation although “I’m still not quite all the way there yet.”
Clemens said if a school system wants to improve safety, he would prefer the school districts hire full-time police officers for the elementary, middle and high schools.
Steube has testified that the Florida Sheriff’s Association has estimated it could cost as much as $500 million to put a trained law-enforcement officer at each of Florida’s public schools.
Monday’s vote marked the first endorsement of the legislation by a Senate committee. The bill must clear two additional committees before it can reach the Senate floor.
Steube’s House bill has been approved by two committees and is awaiting a hearing in the Judiciary Committee.
Steube and Evers are also sponsoring legislation that would allow Floridians with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on the campuses of state colleges and universities.
