Bill > HF603

Introduced Session

This bill relates to school safety, including grant programs, attendance center standards, and emergency planning. The bill provides that if moneys are appropriated by the general assembly, DE is required to establish an attendance center doors grant program to provide grants to applicant school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to allow such schools to purchase doors that comply with the bill’s requirements related to locks on attendance center doors. The state board of education is required to adopt rules to administer the grant program. The bill establishes an attendance center doors grant program fund in the state treasury. The bill requires school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to sign up for, and participate in, the school safety bureau’s electronic threat reporting platform, to publish a link to the electronic school threat reporting platform on the school’s internet site, and to provide training to students and employees related to how to use the electronic school threat reporting platform. The bill requires school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to develop and implement an access control plan that allows the school to monitor and restrict who may enter an attendance center, prevent unauthorized access to attendance centers, and mitigate potential threats to students, staff, and school property. The bill also requires schools to develop and implement a visitor entry plan that allows the school to effectively identify, vet, and monitor all visitors to attendance centers. The bill requires the state board of education to adopt rules to administer these provisions. The bill requires school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, and innovation zone schools to do all of the following: install new door systems, or modify existing door systems, to prevent an active shooter or other perpetrator from blocking or otherwise restricting means of ingress or egress through any attendance center door; label each attendance center door, on both sides of the door, using a sequential numbering system that satisfies the bill’s requirements and update the school’s high-quality emergency operations plan accordingly; require that the classroom doors in any attendance center constructed on or after the bill’s effective date include locks that satisfy certain specified requirements; require that, if the classroom doors in any attendance center need to be replaced or upgraded on or after the bill’s effective date, the locks on the replacement or upgraded doors must satisfy certain specified requirements; require any attendance center that is constructed on or after the bill’s effective date to include a secure vestibule system; require that, if the structure of an attendance center is renovated on or after the bill’s effective date, the school must evaluate whether the renovation should include the incorporation of a secure vestibule system; require that all exterior doors and access-level windows in any attendance center that is constructed on or after the bill’s effective date be shatter resistant or intrusion resistant; require that, if any exterior doors or access-level windows in any attendance center need to be replaced or upgraded on or after the bill’s effective date, the replacement doors or access-level windows must be shatter resistant or intrusion resistant; require that all interior doors and windows in any attendance center that is constructed on or after the bill’s effective date be shatter resistant or intrusion resistant; require that, if any interior doors or windows in any attendance center need to be replaced or upgraded on or after the bill’s effective date, the replacement doors or windows must be shatter resistant or intrusion resistant; and install a video surveillance system in each attendance center that satisfies certain specified requirements. The bill allows schools to adopt policies and acquire equipment to ensure that all employees of the school are able to communicate with the school’s administrative office in emergency situations while the employee is in an instructional area located on school property or in an outdoor recreation area on school property. The bill requires the state board of education to adopt rules to administer these provisions. The bill requires schools to evaluate the potential use of shatter-resistant film or intrusion-resistant film in all attendance centers, including in all windows, windowed doors, and sidelights that are large enough for a person to enter or gain access to a locking mechanism. The bill requires DE to review and study the requirements associated with the high-quality emergency operations plans developed by school districts and accredited nonpublic schools pursuant to Code section 280.30. The bill establishes what DE is required to consider during the review and study. DE is required to submit its findings and recommendations to the general assembly on or before December 31, 2025. The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid received by the school district under Code section 257.16. The specification is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state mandates included in the bill.

AI Summary

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Carter Nordman (R)*, 

Subcommittee recommends passage. (on 03/25/2025)

Official Document