STORAGE NAME: h0345.SAS
DATE: 3/21/2025
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FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BILL ANALYSIS
This bill analysis was prepared by nonpartisan committee staff and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
BILL #: HB 345
TITLE: Student Elopement
SPONSOR(S): Eskamani
COMPANION BILL: SB 460 (Arrington)
LINKED BILLS: None
RELATED BILLS: None
Committee References
Student Academic Success
Education & Employment
SUMMARY
Effect of the Bill:
The bill requires each public school to create a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Team and a school
elopement plan. The SAFE Team, including the principal and assistant principal, must create and annually update
the school elopement plan, annually provide the elopement plan to the district school board, respond to
elopements, and train school staff on the elopement plan.
The bill requires the elopement plan to include a search grid of the school and surrounding area identifying
potential hazards, elopement notification procedures, a coordinated response plan, contact information for SAFE
Team members, and any additional measures deemed necessary by the SAFE Team, district school board, or State
Board of Education.
The bill requires the SAFE Team, in coordination with the student’s parents to create a student-specific elopement
guide for students at risk, which includes identifying information, communication abilities, relevant behavioral or
medical considerations, and potential locations the student may go. The guide must be shared with the student’s
parent and relevant school personnel.
Fiscal or Economic Impact:
School districts may incur costs to establish and maintain SAFE Teams and school elopement plans and to provide
ongoing training to staff. These costs are indeterminate and may vary by district.
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ANALYSIS
EFFECT OF THE BILL:
To ensure the safety of students with disabilities at risk of elopement, the bill requires each public school to create
a School Staff Assistance for Emergencies (SAFE) Team and a school elopement plan. The school principal and
assistant principal must serve on the SAFE Team and the school principal must appoint at least five other members
to serve on the team. The SAFE Team must:
• Create and annually update the school elopement plan and respond to all elopements.
• Provide training to all school personnel to familiarize such personnel with the school elopement plan and
all necessary procedures, including, but not limited to, the search grid and any responsibilities of such
personnel if an elopement occurs.
In developing the school elopement plan, the bill requires the SAFE Team to include all of the following:
• A search grid of the school campus and surrounding areas. The search grid must include all bodies of water,
intersections, train tracks and stations, parks, playgrounds, and other features that may present a greater
risk for students with disabilities at risk of elopement.
• Procedures for school personnel to notify school administrators if a student with disabilities elopes and
procedures for school personnel to immediately begin searching for the student. The procedures must JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
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specify that upon notification of an elopement, the SAFE Team must notify the school resource officer or
school safety officer and local law enforcement.
• Procedures for a coordinated response to an elopement, including, but not limited to, announcing a Code
Gray, which must alert all school personnel to the elopement, and immediately contacting the student's
parent.
• The names, positions, and contact information for all members of the SAFE Team.
• Other information or procedures that the SAFE Team, district school board, or State Board of Education
deems necessary.
The bill requires a student-specific elopement quick reference guide for a student with disabilities who is prone to
elopement. The guide must be created by the SAFE Team, in coordination with the student's parent, and must
include:
• The student's identifying information.
• A current photograph of the student.
• The student's level of communication.
• A list of the student's interests, behaviors, preferences, and aversions.
• Any health considerations for the student.
• A list of any GPS technology that could be used to help locate the student.
• A list of possible locations where the student may go within the search grid.
The bill requires the SAFE Team to distribute the student's elopement quick reference guide to the student's
parent and all relevant school personnel.
The bill requires each public school to annually provide its elopement plan to the district school board.
The bill defines “disability”, for a student in kindergarten through grade 12, to mean autism spectrum disorder, as
defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, published by the American
Psychiatric Association, or an intellectual disability, as defined in s. 393.063.
The bill defines "elopement" to mean when a student with disabilities wanders away, walks away, runs away,
escapes, or otherwise leaves the supervision of school staff or leaves school grounds unsupervised or unnoticed
before the end of his or her scheduled school day. (Section 2).
The effective date of the bill is July 1, 2025. (Section 1).
RULEMAKING:
This bill authorizes the State Board of Education to adopt rules to administer requirements of the school
elopement plans.
Lawmaking is a legislative power; however, the Legislature may delegate a portion of such power to executive
branch agencies to create rules that have the force of law. To exercise this delegated power, an agency must
have a grant of rulemaking authority and a law to implement.
FISCAL OR ECONOMIC IMPACT:
LOCAL GOVERNMENT:
The bill has an indeterminate fiscal impact on local government expenditures, as school districts may incur costs
associated with establishing and maintaining SAFE Teams, developing school elopement plans, and providing
ongoing staff training. These costs may vary by districts.
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RELEVANT INFORMATION
SUBJECT OVERVIEW:
Elopement
Wandering, also called elopement, is an important safety issue that affects some people with disabilities, their
families, and the community.
1 Elopement is the tendency for an individual to leave the safety of a responsible
person’s care or safe area, which may result in potential harm or injury. This might include running off from adults
at school or in the community, leaving the classroom without permission, or exiting the house when the family is
not aware. This behavior is considered common and short-lived in toddlers but may persist or re-emerge in those
with autism.
2 Studies have shown that 25 to 50 percent of children with autism have attempted to elope.
3
Currently, there are no state or federal requirements for student elopement plans, although some schools may
have established plans.
Elopement Action Plan for Schools
Safety is a concern with wandering and elopement behaviors. Safety of the student who is trying to flee an area, a
classroom, a crowded lunchroom or even a school building, as well as the safety of the staff working with that
student. Often these behaviors aren’t addressed early enough, and they become a pattern for a student. Even
worse, the natural response to run after the student to stop them from eloping might be an unintentional
reinforcement for this unsafe behavior.
4 To address the safety issue, the Pathfinders for Autism recommends each
school establish an elopement plan.
5
In September of 2018, the Rochester City School Board adopted a Wander and Elopement Policy (policy) requiring
annual training for staff prior to students’ arrival on the first day of each school year. The school board policy
provides:
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An explanation of any physical modifications to the building that may discourage wandering and/or
elopement.
A protocol for notifying staff.
Procedures and staff assignments for immediately notifying 911, parents/family, and the central office.
Protocols for communicating with law enforcement, including practices and procedures for accessing and
disseminating any available video footage, floor plans, and maps of the school grounds and immediate
surrounding areas.
The school-wide communication and alert system.
Explicit staff assignments for building and grounds searches.
A protocol for assuring the availability of recent photographs of the student.
A protocol for ensuring that students with a history of wandering or elopement incidents carry basic
identification at all times.
1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disability and Safety: Information on Wandering (Elopement),
https://www.cdc.gov/child-development/disability-
safety/wandering.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandsafety/wandering.html (last visited Mar.
16, 2025).
2
National Autism Association, About Autism & Wandering, https://nationalautismassociation.org/resources/wandering/ (last
visited Mar. 16, 2025).
3
American Association of Pediatrics, Wandering a major problem among child with autism, What you can do, (2020) available
at 14737.pdf (silverchair-cdn.com).
4
Pathfinders for Autism, PFA Tips: Wandering and Elopement at School,
https://pathfindersforautism.org/articles/safety/elope-at-
school/#:~:text=An%20elopement%20plan%20might%20state%20steps%20to%20include%3A,go%20to%20the%20front
%20doors%20of%20the%20building (last visited Mar. 16, 2025).
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Id.
6
Rochester City School Board Policy Manual, Wandering and Elopement Policy, (Sept. 2018), available at
https://www.rcsdk12.org/cms/lib/NY01001156/Centricity/Domain/22/Proposed%20Wandering%20and%20Elopement%
20Policy%20-%20April%202018.pdf. JUMP TO SUMMARY ANALYSIS RELEVANT INFORMATION BILL HISTORY
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Students with Disabilities
All students who are between the ages of three and 21, and have a disability
7 have the right to a free, appropriate
public education (FAPE).
8 Federal and state law requires students identified as having a disability and needing
exceptional student education services or accommodations, to be provided a FAPE as outlined in an individualized
educational plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan.
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Accommodations are important for students with disabilities. Students use accommodations to increase, maintain,
or improve academic performance.
10 There are several types of accommodations that are available and specific to a
student’s need, such as increasing or decreasing opportunity for movement, as some students may need to move in
the classroom without disrupting others, while other students may need to be kept from wandering.
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BILL HISTORY
COMMITTEE REFERENCE ACTION DATE
STAFF
DIRECTOR/
POLICY CHIEF
ANALYSIS
PREPARED BY
Student Academic Success
Subcommittee
Sanchez Dixon
Education & Employment
Committee
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Disabilities that qualify a student as an exceptional student include an intellectual disability; an autism spectrum disorder; a
speech impairment; a language impairment; an orthopedic impairment; another health impairment; traumatic brain injury; a
visual impairment; an emotional or behavioral disability; a specific learning disability, including, but not limited to, dyslexia,
dyscalculia, or developmental aphasia; deafness, hard of hearing, or dual sensory impairment; or developmental delays from
birth through five years old or if the student is hospitalized or homebound. S. 1003.01(9)(a), F.S.
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20 U.S.C. s. 1412(a)(1); s. 1003.5716, F.S.
9
34 C.F.R. s. 104.33; 34 C.F.R.; 300.101; 34 C.F.R. 300.112; section 1003.57, F.S.; rules 6A-6.0331 and 6A-6.030152, F.A.C.
10
Florida Department of Education, Accommodations, Assisting Students with Disabilities, at 2, available at
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7690/urlt/0070069-accomm-educator.pdf.
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Id. at 40.