Florida SB 1620: Childhood Mental Health, Safety, and Welfare

Bill Text

1620 
Public Education 
2026-03-04T07:37:51Z 
Providing members of a district school board with specified rights; requiring that certain documents from district school board meetings be kept as public records; providing that a school district employee may not be required or incentivized to sign a nondisclosure agreement or confidentiality agreement; prohibiting a school district from imposing certain conditions on employment, etc. 
Committee Substitute 2 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c2 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for CS for SB 1620 

 By the Committees on Rules; and Judiciary; and Senators Leek and 
 Gaetz 

 595-03382-26 20261620c2 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to public education; creating s. 
 3 1001.366, F.S.; providing members of a district school 
 4 board with specified rights; amending s. 1001.42, 
 5 F.S.; requiring that certain documents from district 
 6 school board meetings be kept as public records; 
 7 amending s. 1012.22, F.S.; defining the term “good 
 8 cause”; providing that a school district employee may 
 9 not be required or incentivized to sign a 
 10 nondisclosure agreement or confidentiality agreement; 
 11 prohibiting a school district from imposing certain 
 12 conditions on employment; providing an effective date. 
 13 
 14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 15 
 16 Section 1. Section 1001.366, Florida Statutes, is created 
 17 to read: 
 18 1001.366 District School Board Members’ Bill of Rights.—A 
 19 member of a district school board has the right to: 
 20 (1) Upon request, be given free and timely access to all 
 21 school district documents necessary to fulfill the duties and 
 22 responsibilities required under the State Constitution and the 
 23 Florida Early Learning-20 Education Code. Access to documents 
 24 that are confidential or exempt from public disclosure must be 
 25 provided in compliance with applicable law. A request not 
 26 related to a matter on a publicly noticed meeting of the 
 27 district school board must be fulfilled within 10 business days 
 28 after receipt of such request. Any document provided to a 
 29 district school board member must be offered to all board 
 30 members. 
 31 (2) Consult with the school district’s chief financial 
 32 officer on general matters related to the budget, sources and 
 33 uses of school district funds, and have reasonable access, upon 
 34 request, to any detail or line item in any proposed or approved 
 35 budget or in any financial transaction by the school district. 
 36 (3) Request any document or information, except for 
 37 documents or information that the member would be prohibited by 
 38 law from accessing, from school district staff with the 
 39 permission of the superintendent or other members of the 
 40 administration where such permission must not be unreasonably 
 41 withheld. 
 42 (4) Comment publicly during or outside of district school 
 43 board meetings on any matter of district school board business, 
 44 except for student and employee disciplinary hearings that are 
 45 specifically addressed in ss. 1006.07 and 1012.34, respectively, 
 46 or other matters prohibited by law. 
 47 Section 2. Paragraph (c) is added to subsection (1) of 
 48 section 1001.42, Florida Statutes, to read: 
 49 1001.42 Powers and duties of district school board.—The 
 50 district school board, acting as a board, shall exercise all 
 51 powers and perform all duties listed below: 
 52 (1) REQUIRE MINUTES AND RECORDS TO BE KEPT.—Require the 
 53 district school superintendent, as secretary, to keep such 
 54 minutes and records as are necessary to set forth clearly all 
 55 actions and proceedings of the school board. 
 56 (c) Other records.—Other documents, including attachments 
 57 for agenda items, such as vendor contracts or budget documents, 
 58 must be kept as a public record with the minutes of each 
 59 meeting. 
 60 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 
 61 1012.22, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (k) is 
 62 added to that subsection, to read: 
 63 1012.22 Public school personnel; powers and duties of the 
 64 district school board.—The district school board shall: 
 65 (1) Designate positions to be filled, prescribe 
 66 qualifications for those positions, and provide for the 
 67 appointment, compensation, promotion, suspension, and dismissal 
 68 of employees as follows, subject to the requirements of this 
 69 chapter: 
 70 (a) Positions, qualifications, and appointments.— 
 71 1. The district school board shall act upon written 
 72 recommendations submitted by the district school superintendent 
 73 for positions to be filled, for minimum qualifications for 
 74 personnel for the various positions, and for the persons 
 75 nominated to fill such positions. 
 76 2. The district school board may reject for good cause any 
 77 employee nominated. 
 78 3. If the third nomination by the district school 
 79 superinte