DeSantis Signs HB 757 Expanding Armed Guardian Program to Florida Colleges

Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 757 on May 15, 2026, expanding the state's armed guardian school safety program to Florida's public colleges and universities. The new law allows trained faculty and staff to carry firearms on campus, creates a second-degree felony for discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, and pairs the new authorities with $1.6 billion in Safe Schools funding for the coming fiscal year.

The bill marks one of the most significant changes to Florida's higher education security framework since the post-Parkland reforms that followed the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Until now, the armed guardian program had been limited to K-12 schools. HB 757 extends the model to roughly two dozen state colleges and twelve state universities, opening the door to a substantial expansion of armed personnel on campus.

What the law does

HB 757 amends the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program, which was originally established after the Parkland shooting, to permit public colleges and universities to participate. Participation is voluntary at the institution level, meaning each campus chooses whether to designate trained faculty or staff members as guardians authorized to carry firearms.

Faculty and staff who are designated as guardians must complete the same firearms training, psychological evaluation, and drug screening required for K-12 guardians. The training program is administered through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and partner sheriffs' offices and includes both classroom instruction and live-fire exercises.

The bill also creates a new criminal penalty: discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, college, or university campus is now a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The new offense is intended to provide prosecutors with a tool against gunfire near schools that does not involve a direct attack on the school itself.

The $1.6 billion in school safety funding

The bill is paired with a $1.6 billion appropriation for the Safe Schools allocation in the 2026-2027 state budget. The funding covers a range of programs including school resource officers, mental health services, security infrastructure, threat assessment teams, and the guardian program itself.

According to the governor's office release, the appropriation represents a continued increase in state investment in school safety, building on a steady upward trend since the Parkland shooting. The funding is distributed to local school districts based on a formula that takes into account enrollment and other factors.

The new appropriation expands eligible uses of Safe Schools funding to include higher education campuses, in line with HB 757's broader scope. State officials say a portion of the new funding will support the initial rollout of the guardian program at public colleges and universities that opt in.

How the post-Parkland framework has evolved

The Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program was created in 2018 as part of a sweeping school safety package passed after the Parkland shooting. The original program was intended to ensure that every public school had at least one armed individual on campus during school hours, whether a sworn law enforcement officer, a contracted security guard, or a trained guardian.

Initial participation was uneven. Several large urban school districts, including Broward and Miami-Dade, declined to participate in the guardian portion of the program, opting instead to rely on school resource officers. Smaller and rural districts, where law enforcement coverage is more limited, embraced the guardian model more quickly.

Over the following years, the Legislature has periodically expanded the program's scope and increased training requirements. HB 757 represents the most significant expansion since the original 2018 law, both in terms of the new categories of institutions covered and the parallel criminal penalty for nearby gunfire.

Reaction from supporters

According to the governor's office release, DeSantis cast the bill as a logical extension of the post-Parkland framework to higher education. State legislative leaders who supported the bill described it as a response to high-profile campus shootings elsewhere in the country and to concerns about the response time of law enforcement on sprawling university campuses.

Gun rights organizations and several law enforcement groups expressed support for the bill. Sheriffs in rural counties, who would handle initial training for guardians at colleges in their jurisdictions, generally welcomed the expansion, noting that it builds on training programs they already operate for K-12 guardians.

Some campus administrators, particularly at smaller state colleges in less densely populated areas, said they may consider participating in the program. They cited the long response times for off-campus law enforcement in some rural counties and the difficulty of maintaining sufficient sworn security staff on tight budgets.

Reaction from critics

The bill drew strong opposition from many faculty groups, student government associations, and gun control advocates. Critics argued that increasing the number of firearms on college campuses raises the risk of accidental shootings, escalates conflicts, and could deter students from engaging openly with faculty.

Florida education unions and faculty associations argued that the bill blurs the distinction between teaching faculty and security personnel. They expressed concerns about the additional liability faculty members might face and about the practical complications of carrying firearms on campuses with research labs, residence halls, and dense student populations.

Gun control organizations including national groups active in Florida said the law represents the wrong response to the threat of campus violence. They argued that the post-Parkland data on the K-12 guardian program is mixed and that expanding the model to higher education without stronger evaluation of its effectiveness is premature.

What it means for Floridians

For Florida college students, faculty, and staff, the most visible change will depend on whether their specific institution opts in. The law is permissive rather than mandatory, so the practical effect on any given campus will be determined by university and college boards of trustees, presidents, and faculty governance bodies.

For families with college-age students, the new law is likely to prompt new questions when evaluating institutions. Whether a campus participates in the guardian program may become a factor in admissions decisions for some families, alongside academics, cost, and location.

For prospective faculty and staff, the law adds a new dimension to the employment relationship. Designation as a guardian is voluntary, but the existence of the option may shape hiring conversations, particularly in administrative and security-adjacent positions where institutions might prefer candidates who are open to participating.

Local impact across the state

The University of Florida in Gainesville, the largest of the state's public universities by enrollment, has not announced whether it will participate. The campus already operates a substantial sworn law enforcement presence through the University of Florida Police Department, which would continue to handle primary security responsibilities regardless of any guardian program.

Florida State University in Tallahassee, which experienced a tragic shooting in 2025, is closely watching the rollout. Campus leaders have publicly emphasized continued investments in their police department, mental health services, and threat assessment teams, and have not signaled an immediate move toward the guardian model.

Smaller state colleges, particularly those in rural counties served by sheriffs' offices with limited capacity, are widely seen as more likely candidates for early participation. State College of Florida campuses and similar institutions in less densely populated regions face longer law enforcement response times and tighter security budgets.

Training and implementation challenges

Standing up a guardian program at a college or university involves substantial logistics. Each designated guardian must complete an extensive training program, undergo psychological evaluation, and be vetted through criminal background and drug screening. Renewal training and recurring evaluations are required.

Colleges and universities that opt in will need to coordinate with their county sheriffs' offices on training, develop internal policies for how guardians carry and store firearms, and adopt procedures for engaging local law enforcement during active incidents. Institutional liability insurance carriers will also need to weigh in on coverage implications.

The state has indicated it will publish implementation guidance over the summer, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is expected to update its guardian training curriculum to address the specific environment of higher education campuses. Whether the implementation pace allows institutions to enroll guardians for the fall semester remains uncertain.

Other security measures in the package

HB 757 is not limited to the guardian program expansion. The legislation also includes additional provisions affecting school resource officer requirements, mental health resources for students, and threat assessment procedures. Florida law has steadily layered new requirements onto schools in each of these areas since 2018, and the latest bill continues that pattern.

The new 1,000-foot felony provision for firearm discharge near schools is a notable addition. Existing Florida law already criminalizes discharging a firearm in public, and federal law restricts firearms in school zones, but the new state provision specifically classifies the offense as a second-degree felony in cases occurring within the 1,000-foot perimeter. Prosecutors will now have a clearer state-level charging option for those cases.

The bill also touches on the protocols for coordinating between school officials and law enforcement during emerging threats. The framework builds on procedures established in the post-Parkland reforms and is intended to clarify roles and reduce response delays during active incidents on or near school campuses.

Higher education versus K-12 environments

Higher education campuses present materially different security challenges than K-12 schools. Colleges and universities typically operate as open campuses with substantial pedestrian traffic, residence halls open around the clock, and academic buildings spread across large geographic footprints. Security models developed for K-12 schools do not translate directly to that environment.

Faculty roles also differ significantly from K-12 teaching roles. College faculty often have flexible schedules, multiple campus locations, and responsibilities that extend beyond the classroom into research and administrative work. Designating faculty as guardians in this environment raises practical questions about when and where firearms would be carried and stored.

Student populations at public colleges and universities include adults of legal firearm-purchase age, which adds another dimension. Florida law generally allows lawful concealed carry off campus, and the boundary between off-campus carry and on-campus restrictions has been a recurring point of policy debate. HB 757 does not change those baseline rules but adds the guardian designation as a new category of authorized on-campus carry.

What is next

The most immediate steps will involve institutional decisions about whether to participate. Boards of trustees at the state's public colleges and universities will need to discuss the question, take input from faculty governance bodies and student leadership, and decide whether and how to opt in.

State agencies will issue implementation guidance and adjust training programs to accommodate the expanded scope. Local sheriffs' offices will work with participating institutions to schedule training and certification for designated guardians. Funding decisions tied to the broader $1.6 billion appropriation will flow through the regular budget process.

Politically, the bill is likely to remain a topic of debate through the next election cycle. Supporters see it as a continuation of Florida's leadership on school safety in the years since Parkland. Critics see it as a significant expansion of armed presence in academic settings that warrants closer scrutiny. The actual outcomes on campus security, training rollout, and any incidents over the coming year will shape the next round of policy discussions in Tallahassee.