Florida SB 1738: Animal Welfare

Bill Text

1738 
Educational Facilities 
2026-02-05T03:58:01Z 
Requiring the Office of Educational Facilities and the Office of Safe Schools to collaborate with specified entities to review the State Requirements for Educational Facilities, etc. 
Committee Substitute 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c1 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for SB 1738 

 By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senator Yarborough 

 581-02511-26 20261738c1 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to educational facilities; requiring 
 3 the Office of Educational Facilities and the Office of 
 4 Safe Schools to collaborate with specified entities to 
 5 review the State Requirements for Educational 
 6 Facilities; providing requirements for the review; 
 7 requiring that recommendations be provided to 
 8 specified entities; providing an effective date. 
 9 
 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 11 
 12 Section 1. (1) The Office of Educational Facilities and 
 13 the Office of Safe Schools within the Department of Education 
 14 shall collaborate with at least one state university that has 
 15 research experience in the design and construction of 
 16 educational facilities; district facilities directors; 
 17 representatives of the Florida Building Commission; and sheriffs 
 18 or police chiefs to review the State Requirements for 
 19 Educational Facilities required under s. 1013.37, Florida 
 20 Statutes, and make recommendations, as appropriate, to improve 
 21 teacher and student safety and accountability through a school’s 
 22 physical plant. The review must include all of the following: 
 23 (a) Recommended changes in new construction and renovations 
 24 which may reduce the occurrence of misconduct between teachers 
 25 and students and between students. Such misconduct may include, 
 26 but is not limited to, physical and sexual abuse, inappropriate 
 27 relationships with students, bullying, and harassment. 
 28 (b) Configurations of a physical plant, such as using 
 29 lighting, windows, doors, mirrors, and cameras, to ensure that 
 30 student interactions with adults are observable and that there 
 31 are opportunities for the interactions to be interrupted, to 
 32 reduce times that a student may be isolated, and to maintain 
 33 access control over spaces. 
 34 (2) The review required in this section must be conducted 
 35 in a manner that does not conflict with, diminish, or compromise 
 36 physical plant hardening requirements for school safety, which 
 37 must prioritize the creation of a secure, layered environment 
 38 designed to prevent, detect, delay, and respond to threats. 
 39 (3) Recommendations must be submitted to the department, 
 40 which shall transmit the recommendations and any comments as a 
 41 part of its next biennial review to the Florida Building 
 42 Commission consistent with s. 1013.37(4), Florida Statutes, with 
 43 copies to the Governor, the State Fire Marshal, the President of 
 44 the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 45 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.