In Florida, if a student has ever been the subject of a threat assessment, there is a file. When that student moves from one public school to another, the file goes with them. The next school knows.
Until this year, that file stopped at one door.
Graduation.
And a threat assessment does not start for no reason. It starts when a student threatens to shoot up the school, talks about becoming a school shooter, or shows behavior that makes the adults around them worried the student could harm themselves or others.
That student could be assessed 3 times in high school, receive support for 2 years, and walk onto a state university campus in August as a complete stranger. The people now responsible for that student would have to start from nothing.
Not anymore. This fall, Florida became the first state in the country to send those records on to college with the student. It is one of the most important school safety changes I have seen in years, and most families have never heard of it.
What follows the student now
The law is House Bill 757. It grew out of a day most Floridians remember.
On April 17, 2025, a gunman opened fire near the student union at Florida State University. In less than 5 minutes, Robert Morales, 57, the university's dining director, and Tiru Chabba, 45, a regional vice president for Aramark, were killed. 6 others were wounded.
The next year, lawmakers looked at how Florida's colleges and universities protect students, and at what they know about the students arriving on campus. HB 757 passed the Florida House 88 to 20 and was signed on May 15, 2026. In July, the State Board of Education adopted the policy that tells schools how to send the records.
Ryan Petty, who lost his daughter Alaina at Parkland and now chairs the State Board, put it simply. The change "just makes sense."
Here are the records that now go to college with the student.
What now follows a Florida student to college
Records sent when a public K-12 student enrolls at a Florida public college or state university.
- Verified reports of serious or recurring behavior
- Threat assessment reports and documentation
- Psychological evaluations
- Treatment plans
- Therapy and progress notes written by school staff
This is new. Before HB 757, K-12 threat records moved between schools but stopped at graduation.
Source: Florida HB 757 (2026), ch. 2026-80, Laws of Florida, Section 5; Florida House final bill analysis, May 19, 2026
The same law also requires every Florida public college and university to have a threat management team, an active assailant response plan and a family reunification plan. So the records arrive somewhere with trained people ready to use them.
The dots nobody connected
To understand why this matters, go back to April 16, 2007. Virginia Tech. 32 students and faculty killed.
The shooter had received mental health treatment and special support at school for years before he ever got to college. His middle and high schools knew. Virginia Tech did not. The state panel that investigated afterward wrote that the university "never even had access" to his K-12 records.
Then it wrote the sentence that has stayed with me ever since.
The panel looked at whether K-12 records should follow students to college. It called the question too thorny, and no state took it on.
11 years later, it was my son's school.
After Parkland, the commission that investigated found the same pattern. People were so cautious about privacy law that what they knew never reached the people who could act. The commission said it plainly: schools can and should share records when a child's safety is at stake.
Florida listened. It required a threat assessment team in every school. It made the records follow students between schools. It moved every district to one statewide system. And now it has carried that system across the line to college.
19 years from Virginia Tech to HB 757
How the effort to connect the dots has moved forward.
- 2007Virginia Tech. 32 killed. The university never had the shooter's K-12 records.
- 2008Virginia requires every public college to have a threat assessment team.
- 2018Parkland. 17 killed. Florida requires a threat assessment team in every public school.
- 2019Florida requires threat assessment records to follow students between K-12 schools. The Parkland commission says records can and should be shared when safety is at stake.
- 2023Texas requires threat assessment records to follow students to new school districts.
- 2024Florida moves every school to one statewide threat assessment system.
- 2025Florida State University. 2 killed, 6 wounded.
- 2026HB 757. Florida becomes the first state to send K-12 threat assessment and school mental health records to college.
Sources: Virginia Tech Review Panel (2007); Va. Code 23.1-805; MSD Public Safety Commission (2019); Fla. Stat. 1003.25; Texas HB 3 (2023); Florida HB 757 (2026)
Off the pathway to violence
Here is the part most people never hear about.
In Florida, a threat assessment is not the end of the process. Under the Florida Model, the statewide threat management system every public school uses, the team puts a student support management plan in place. That plan gives the student services to help them get on a pathway to recovery and off a pathway to violence.
Until now, those services would normally stop at graduation. A student who was making real progress could lose the support that was helping, right at one of the biggest transitions of their life.
Now Florida's colleges and universities will use the same Florida Model that K-12 schools use. The services follow the student, so their progress does not stop, and they can go on to live productive, healthy lives.
The counseling records
Here is exactly what the law says about mental health records.
Along with threat assessments and behavior reports, the law covers 3 kinds of school mental health records: psychological evaluations, treatment plans, and therapy and progress notes. It applies to records written by school district or charter school staff. They go to the Florida public college or state university the student enrolls in.
These records are what make the handoff possible. They tell the college team what happened, what support was in place and how the student was doing, so the services can continue instead of starting over.
I want to hear from you on this one. If you are a parent, a school counselor, or you work on a college campus: how should colleges use these records to help students when they arrive? Reply to this email or leave a comment. I read every one.
What other states do
Threat assessment has spread fast across the country. As of early 2025, about 18 states required teams in K-12 schools. A 2025 national survey sponsored by the Secret Service found that 97% of public schools now use a team with threat assessment duties.
Schools with their own threat assessment team
Share of public schools with a school-level team, as reported by principals.
Source: RAND and U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, The State of Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management in K-12 Public Schools (2025). Survey of 1,746 principals.
The teams are there. The next question is what happens to their work when a student moves on. Here is how a few places handle it.
When the student moves on, does the file go too?
Examples of what state and federal law require.
| Where | What the law does | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Federal (FERPA) | Allows a school to send records to a school where the student plans to enroll, without consent. Leaves it up to each school. | 1974 |
| Virginia | Every public college must have a threat assessment team. When a student is flagged, the team can obtain health and criminal history records, and must notify the next school, where the law allows, if a student it judged a threat transfers. | 2008 |
| Texas | Threat assessment records and the full discipline history follow a student to any new school district. Records are kept until the student turns 24. | 2023 |
| Florida | Threat assessment records follow a student between K-12 schools. | 2019 |
| Florida New | Threat assessment, serious behavior and school mental health records follow the student to a Florida public college or university. | 2026 |
Sources: 34 CFR 99.31(a)(2); Va. Code 23.1-805; Texas Education Agency, HB 3 transfer of student records (2023); Fla. Stat. 1003.25; Florida HB 757 (2026)
Notice the pattern. Virginia built a strong college system after Virginia Tech, but it starts when a student arrives on campus. Texas makes sure the file follows a student anywhere in K-12 and keeps it until age 24. Florida is the first to connect the two, from kindergarten through college.
I hope it will not be the last. Every state that already requires threat assessment teams has done the hard part. Connecting high school to college is the next step.
How to make it work
Colleges: get your receiving team ready. Every Florida public college and university now has a threat management team. Decide now who receives a file when it arrives, and how a student gets connected to support in the first weeks of the semester.
Threat assessment teams: write every plan for the next team. A good student support management plan shows what happened, what services are in place, how the student is responding and where things stand. Written that way, a college team can pick up right where you left off.
Leaders: fund the people. In the national survey, fewer than 1 in 4 schools with a team said it had dedicated funding. Teams that are trained and funded write better files and do better work with kids.
Families: be part of the handoff. When parents and students know what support is carrying over, they can help the college team get it right from day one.
If your child has been getting support at school, ask the counselor one question before graduation: "How will this support carry over when my child starts college?" In Florida, it now can. Under federal law you can review your child's education records, and once your child turns 18 or starts college, that right passes to them. If you work in a school, find out who is on your threat assessment team. These records are confidential and only the team can see them, so if a student's words or behavior worry you, the team is who you tell. If you serve on the team, check that your seniors' student support management plans clearly show what services are in place, so a college team can continue them.
See the safety picture for your district. Our School Safety Dashboard shows the safety incidents your district officially reported, how they have changed over time, and how your district compares with the state average.
- Open the dashboard and search for your school or district.
- Go to Safety Incidents. You'll see every incident type the district reported, from threats to weapons.
- Click any incident type to see this year's count, the change from last year, and the trend against the state average.
For Alex. And for all of them.
Max Schachter
If someone needs help
If a young person is struggling: call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Report a threat in Florida: FortifyFL, the state's anonymous reporting app, or getfortifyfl.com
Anonymous tips anywhere: Sandy Hook Promise Say Something, 1-844-572-9669
Immediate danger: call 911.
Data: Florida Legislature, Virginia Tech Review Panel, RAND and the U.S. Secret Service. Learn more at schoolsafetydashboard.org.