CS/HB 257 2025
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to exceptional students and video 2
cameras in public schools; amending s. 1003.574, F.S.; 3
deleting references to the Video Cameras in Public 4
School Classrooms Pilot Program; deleting an obsolete 5
definition; requiring certain district school boards 6
to vote to establish a policy to provide video cameras 7
in self-contained classrooms upon the request of a 8
parent; prohibiting a school or school dist rict from 9
concealing the identity of an employee in a video 10
recording; providing that a video recording made 11
available after a request must include accompanying 12
audio; providing an effective date. 13
14
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Flori da: 15
16
Section 1. Section 1003.574, Florida Statutes, is amended 17
to read: 18
1003.574 Video cameras in public school classrooms ; pilot 19
program.—Beginning with the 2021 -2022 school year, the Video 20
Cameras in Public School Classrooms Pilot Program is create d for 21
a period of 3 school years. 22
(1) As used in this section, the term: 23
(a) "Incident" means an event, a circumstance, an act, or 24
an omission that results in the abuse or neglect of a student 25
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by: 26
1. An employee of a public school or school district; or 27
2. Another student. 28
(b) "School district" means the Broward County Public 29
Schools. 30
(b)(c) "Self-contained classroom" means a classroom at a 31
public school in which a majority of the students in regular 32
attendance are provided special education ser vices and are 33
assigned to one or more such classrooms for at least 50 percent 34
of the instructional day. 35
(2)(a) Each district school board, except a district 36
school board within a fiscally constrained county as defined in 37
s. 218.67(1), shall vote to estab lish a policy to provide video 38
cameras in self-contained classrooms upon the request of a 39
parent under paragraph (b). 40
(b)(a) A school district shall provide a video camera to 41
any school with a self -contained classroom upon the written 42
request of a parent of a student in the classroom. 43
(c)(b) Within 30 days after receipt of the request from a 44
parent, a video camera must shall be operational in each self -45
contained classroom in which the parent's student is in regular 46
attendance for the remainder of the sc hool year, unless the 47
parent withdraws his or her request in writing. 48
(3) If the student who is the subject of the initial 49
request is no longer in attendance in the classroom and a school 50
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discontinues operation of a video camera during a school year, 51
no later than the 5th school day before the date the operation 52
of the video camera is discontinued, the school must notify the 53
parents of each student in regular attendance in the classroom 54
that operation of the video camera will cease unless the 55
continued use of the camera is requested by a parent. No later 56
than the 10th school day before the end of each school year, the 57
school must notify the parents of each student in regular 58
attendance in the classroom that operation of the video camera 59
will not continue during the following school year unless a 60
written request is submitted by a parent for the next school 61
year. 62
(4)(a) A video camera placed in a self -contained classroom 63
must be capable of all of the following: 64
1. Monitoring all areas of the self-contained classroom, 65
including, without limitation, any room attached to the self -66
contained classroom which is used for other purposes. 67
2. Recording audio from all areas of the self -contained 68
classroom, including, without limitation, any room attach ed to 69
the self-contained classroom which is used for other purposes. 70
(b) A video camera placed in a self -contained classroom 71
may not monitor a restroom or any other area in the self -72
contained classroom where a student changes his or her clothes, 73
except for the entryway, exitway, or hallway outside a restroom 74
or other area where a student changes his or her clothes because 75
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of the layout of the self -contained classroom. 76
(c) A video camera placed in a self -contained classroom is 77
not required to be in opera tion when students are not present in 78
the self-contained classroom. 79
(d) If there is an interruption in the operation of the 80
video camera for any reason, an explanation must be submitted in 81
writing to the school principal and the district school board 82
which explains the reason for and duration of the interruption. 83
The written explanation must be maintained at the district 84
school board office for at least 1 year. 85
(5) Before a school initially places a video camera in a 86
self-contained classroom pursuant to this section, the school 87
shall provide written notice of the placement of such video 88
camera to all of the following: 89
(a) The parent of each student who is assigned to the 90
self-contained classroom. 91
(b) Each student who is assigned to the self -contained 92
classroom. 93
(c) The school district. 94
(d) Each school employee who is assigned to work with one 95
or more students in the self -contained classroom. 96
(6) A school shall: 97
(a) Retain video recorded from a video camera placed 98
pursuant to this section for a t least 3 months after the date 99
the video was recorded, after which the recording must shall be 100
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deleted or otherwise made irretrievable unretrievable; or 101
(b) Retain the recording until the conclusion of any 102
investigation or any administrative or legal pr oceedings that 103
result from the recording have been completed, including, 104
without limitation, the exhaustion of all appeals. 105
(7) A school or school district may not: 106
(a) Allow regular, continuous, or continual monitoring of 107
video recorded under this sec tion; or 108
(b) Use video recorded under this section for teacher 109
evaluations or any purpose other than for ensuring the health, 110
safety, and well-being of students receiving special education 111
services in a self-contained classroom; or 112
(c) Conceal the iden tity of a school or school district 113
employee who appears in a video recording . 114
(8) The principal of the school is the custodian of a 115
video camera operated pursuant to this section, all recordings 116
generated by that video camera, and access to such recordi ngs. 117
(a) The release or viewing of any video recording under 118
this section must comply with s. 1002.22. 119
(b) A school or school district shall: 120
1. Conceal the identity of any student who appears in a 121
video recording, but is not involved in the alleged incident 122
documented by the video recording, which the school allows to be 123
viewed under subsection (9), including, without limitation, 124
blurring the face of the uninvolved student. 125
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2. Protect the confidentiality of all student records 126
contained in a video recording in accordance with s. 1002.22. 127
(9)(a) Within 7 days after receiving a request to view a 128
video recording, a school or school district shall allow the 129
following individuals to view a video recording with its 130
accompanying audio made under this section: 131
1. A school or school district employee who is involved in 132
an alleged incident that is documented by the video recording as 133
part of the investigative process; 134
2. A parent of a student who is involved in an alleged 135
incident that is documented by t he video recording and has been 136
reported to the school or school district; 137
3. A school or school district employee as part of an 138
investigation into an alleged incident that is documented by the 139
video recording and has been reported to the school or schoo l 140
district; 141
4. A law enforcement officer as part of an investigation 142
into an alleged incident that is documented by the video 143
recording and has been reported to the law enforcement agency; 144
or 145
5. The Department of Children and Families as part of a 146
child abuse or neglect investigation. 147
(b) A person who requests to view a recording must shall 148
make himself or herself available for viewing the recording 149
within 30 days after being notified by the school or school 150
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district that the person's request has been granted. 151
(c) A person who views the recording and suspects that 152
child abuse has occurred must report the suspected child abuse 153
to the Department of Children and Families. 154
(10)(a) Any individual may appeal to the State Board of 155
Education an action by a school or school district which the 156
individual alleges to be in violation of this section. 157
(b) The state board shall grant a hearing on an appeal 158
under this subsection within 45 days after receiving the appeal. 159
(11) A school or school district does no t violate 160
subsection (8) if a contractor or other employee of the school 161
or school district incidentally views a video recording made 162
under this section in connection with the performance of his or 163
her duties related to either of the following: 164
(a) The installation, operation, or maintenance of video 165
equipment; or 166
(b) The retention of video recordings. 167
(12) This section does not: 168
(a) Limit the access of the parent of a student, under the 169
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. s . 170
1232g, or any other law, to a video recording regarding his or 171
her student. 172
(b) Waive any immunity from liability of a school district 173
or an employee of a school district. 174
(c) Create any liability for a cause of action against a 175
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school or school dist rict or an employee of a school or school 176
district carrying out the duties and responsibilities required 177
by this section. 178
(d) Apply to self-contained classrooms in which the only 179
students receiving special education services are those who have 180
been deemed gifted. 181
(13) The department shall collect information relating to 182
the installation and maintenance of video cameras under this 183
section. 184
(14) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to 185
implement this section. 186
Section 2. This act shall take ef fect July 1, 2025. 187