CS/HB 345 creates a new section of Florida law requiring every public school to develop a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Team and a school elopement plan for students with disabilities who are at risk of eloping. The bill defines “elopement” as a student with a disability leaving school supervision or grounds without notice, and it defines the covered disabilities as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability. Each plan must include procedures for immediately contacting the student’s parent if an elopement occurs.
The bill also requires the SAFE Team to be led by the principal and assistant principal, with at least five additional members appointed by the principal. The team must create and annually update the school’s elopement plan, respond to elopements, and train school personnel on the plan and related procedures. For students prone to elopement, the team must work with the parent to create a student-specific quick reference guide containing identifying information, a photo, communication level, interests, behaviors, health considerations, possible GPS technology, and likely destinations. Schools must provide their elopement plans annually to the district school board, and the State Board of Education may adopt implementing rules.
Impact
The bill would add a new statutory requirement in chapter 1003, Florida Statutes, specifically directing public schools to adopt formal procedures for preventing and responding to student elopement. It would impose planning, training, documentation, and reporting duties on schools and school leadership, and it would create a parent-coordinated information-sharing process for students identified as prone to elopement. The practical effect is to standardize school-level safety responses for a narrow group of students with disabilities and to require ongoing administrative oversight by district school boards and the State Board of Education.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests strong support for the bill: it passed the House Student Academic Success Subcommittee unanimously, 16-0. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate opposition or reservations. Overall, the bill appears to have been received as a student-safety measure with broad bipartisan or noncontroversial support at the subcommittee stage.
Contention
The main policy questions likely concern implementation rather than the goal of the bill. Potential points of contention include the administrative burden on schools, the scope of the definition of covered disabilities, the privacy and handling of student-specific information in quick reference guides, and how schools will identify which students are “prone to elopement.” Another possible issue is whether the required training, staffing, and coordination with parents can be carried out consistently across schools with different resources. No explicit opposition is reflected in the provided vote record.