§ 1012.75, Fla. Stat. · Part III. PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PERSONNEL
Liability of teacher or principal; excessive force.
Text — 2026 Florida Statutes
(1) Except in the case of excessive force or cruel and unusual punishment, a teacher or other member of the instructional staff, a principal or the principal’s designated representative, or a bus driver shall not be civilly or criminally liable for any action carried out in conformity with State Board of Education and district school board rules regarding the control, discipline, suspension, and expulsion of students, including, but not limited to, any exercise of authority under s. 1003.32 or s. 1006.09.
(2) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules that outline administrative standards for the use of reasonable force by school personnel to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment. Such standards shall be distributed to each school in the state and shall provide guidance to school personnel in receiving the limitations on liability specified in this section.
(3) The Department of Education shall administer an educator liability insurance program, as provided in the General Appropriations Act, to protect full-time instructional personnel from liability for monetary damages and the costs of defending actions resulting from claims made against the instructional personnel arising out of occurrences in the course of activities within the instructional personnel’s professional capacity. For purposes of this subsection, the terms “full-time,” “part-time,” and “administrative personnel” shall be defined by the individual district school board. For purposes of this subsection, the term “instructional personnel” has the same meaning as provided in s. 1012.01(2).
(a) Liability coverage of at least $2 million shall be provided to all full-time instructional personnel. Liability coverage may be provided to the following individuals who choose to participate in the program, at cost: part-time instructional personnel, administrative personnel, and students enrolled in a state-approved teacher preparation program pursuant to s. 1012.39(3).
(b) By August 1 of each year, the department shall notify the personnel specified in paragraph (a) of the pending procurement for liability coverage. By September 1 of each year, each district school board shall notify the personnel specified in paragraph (a) of the liability coverage provided pursuant to this subsection. The department shall develop the form of the notice which shall be used by each district school board. The notice must be on an 8 1/2-inch by 5 1/2-inch postcard and include the amount of coverage, a general description of the nature of the coverage, and the contact information for coverage and claims questions. The notification shall be provided separately from any other correspondence. Each district school board shall certify to the department, by September 15 of each year, that the notification required by this paragraph has been provided.
(c) The department shall consult with the Department of Financial Services to select the most economically prudent and cost-effective means of implementing the program through self-insurance, a risk management program, or competitive procurement.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
s. 753, ch. 2002-387; s. 10, ch. 2015-222; s. 7, ch. 2016-58; ss. 26, 126, ch. 2016-62.
Source of truth
- Edition
- 2026 Florida Statutes
- Official file
- https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1012/1012.html
- Text hash
- sha256 42ac99cef0ceef4f75e408a22949d61e4dc62e99b4e6eb49d302d38be8b59da9
- Composed by
- compose_v2.py 2026-10-04: the Legislature's structured HTML read in document order; verify_v2.py's independent reading agrees character for character
- composed from the Legislature's structured HTML (one source of text; no PDF extraction); a second, independent reading of the same bytes agrees character for character
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
The Florida Statutes
- § 1003.32, Fla. Stat.Authority of teacher; responsibility for control of students; district school board and principal duties.Printed as s. 1003.32
- § 1006.09, Fla. Stat.Duties of school principal relating to student discipline and school safety.Printed as s. 1006.09
- § 1012.01, Fla. Stat.Definitions.Printed as s. 1012.01(2)
- § 1012.39, Fla. Stat.Employment of substitute teachers, teachers of adult education, nondegreed teachers of career education, and career specialists and nondegreed teachers of fine and performing arts; students performing clinical field experience.Printed as s. 1012.39(3)
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites § 1012.75, Fla. Stat.. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
The Florida Statutes
- § 1012.39, Fla. Stat.Employment of substitute teachers, teachers of adult education, nondegreed teachers of career education, and career specialists and nondegreed teachers of fine and performing arts; students performing clinical field experience.Printed as s. 1012.75
- § 1015.03, Fla. Stat.Rights of employment.Printed as s. 1012.75
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