End School Corporal Punishment

Map › Florida

Florida

Legal in public schools

17 of 67 districts reported 516 instances in 2023-24 (Suwannee 74, Holmes 65, Calhoun 59, Columbia 50, Wakulla 45, Washington 43); 647 students in the 2021-22 federal count. Districts that still permit it are coded consent_required. The consent law came from a four-year University of Florida student campaign after a disability-only ban was blocked. Hendry County banned it in 2021 after a principal was filmed paddling a six-year-old.

The law

Fla. Stat. § 1003.32(1)(k) (teacher authority per board policy) and § 1002.20(4)(c) (as amended by CS/HB 1255, 2025, ch. 2025-110) text

Private schools are not covered.

Limits

  • Since July 1, 2025 a board that authorizes it must require parental consent, for the school year or before each instance (the statute says 'consent,' not 'written consent'); the board must review the policy at a public meeting every three years or the authorization expires; charters must comply (§ 1002.33(16)(b)17)
  • Principal approval in principle and principal guidelines; another adult present and informed of the reason; written explanation to the parent on request (§ 1003.32(1)(k))
  • No disability ban

Bills

  • HB 109 / SB 662 (2026), Rep. Johanna López (D), Sen. Mack Bernard (D): Full ban for district employees; died in committee March 13, 2026 failed record
  • CS/HB 1255 (2025), Reps. Dana Trabulsy and Chase Tramont (R): Omnibus education bill adding the parental-consent requirement; final votes 100-0 and 30-0; signed May 30, 2025 signed record
  • HB 439 / SB 1318 (2024), Reps. Waldron, Beltran, Garcia, Gottlieb, Stark; Sen. Thompson: Remove teacher authority, require notification, ban for specified students; favorable in subcommittee, died March 8, 2024 failed record

Sources: 1 2 3 4 · verified 2026-09-09

Students struck

YearStudentsBlackBoysWith disabilitiesPer 1,000
2017-181,332284
2021-226471095341730.23
2023-24467693881310.17

US Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection. Students, not incidents; 2023-24 computed by this project from the raw file.

Counties

Florida has 77 school districts in 67 counties. Each district is drawn in the colour of its own policy; hover one for its name and rule, click to jump to its row. Counties show through where no district is recorded yet.
Okaloosa Glades DeSoto Dixie Martin Hardee Bay Flagler Orange Walton Pasco St. Lucie Washington Sumter Palm Beach Alachua Lafayette Okeechobee Hernando Charlotte Lee Lake Suwannee Levy Nassau Madison Columbia Calhoun Citrus Franklin Gadsden Gulf Jefferson Pinellas Clay Santa Rosa Seminole Volusia Monroe St. Johns Osceola Sarasota Gilchrist Hendry Highlands Indian River Manatee Union Duval Wakulla Jackson Leon Escambia Miami-Dade Bradford Taylor Broward Polk Brevard Hamilton Collier Baker Liberty Holmes Putnam Marion Hillsborough
A district's policy allows it (8)Parental consent required (6)No written rule found; the district reports using it (18)Every sourced district prohibits it (22)District policy not yet checked (1)No district recorded yet: state law applies (12)

The map is counties, and most counties hold several districts: green when every recorded district prohibits it, striped when some prohibit and some permit, red when a district permits it. The table below is district by district. Counties take the state's status unless a recorded district differs. Boundaries: US Census Bureau (public domain). District policies with a source link are verified; the rest were carried over from the original map and are being re-checked.

Districts

55 of 77 Florida districts listed; 54 checked against the district's own policy. The rest are marked not checked: the pre-2026 map carried a status for them with no source, and the first ones re-checked in 2026 were wrong more often than not, so those values are shown only as a note and are not used to colour the map. Help check this state.

"Struck 2023-24" is the district's own figure from its own Civil Rights Data Collection filing, joined by federal district id. A blank means the district is not among the 832 the collection names, which can mean it reported none or that it reported nothing at all — the public-use file does not distinguish the two, so no claim is made either way.

DistrictCountyPaddlingStruck 2023-24PhonesAIHS startSourceVerified
Alachua CountyAlachuaProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Baker CountyBakerAllows5.270 via crew2026-10-04
Bradford CountyBradfordAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Brevard CountyBrevardProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Broward County School DistrictBrowardNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
CALHOUNCalhounAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Charlotte County Public SchoolsCharlotteProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Citrus County School DistrictCitrusNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Collier County School DistrictCollierNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
ColumbiaColumbiaConsent required5.19 via crew2026-10-04
DeSoto CountyDeSotoProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Dixie County SchoolsDixieNot checked
old map said consent_required		none yet
Duval County School DistrictDuvalNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Escambia County Public SchoolsEscambiaProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Flagler County School DistrictFlaglerNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
FRANKLINFranklinProhibitspolicy found & read2026-09-25
Gadsden County School DistrictGadsdenProhibits5630 via crew2026-10-04
Gilchrist County School DistrictGilchristConsent requiredpolicy via crew2026-10-04
HAMILTONHamiltonAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
HARDEEHardeeConsent requiredpolicy via crew2026-10-04
Hendry County Public SchoolsHendryProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Hernando County School DistrictHernandoNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Highlands County School DistrictHighlandsProhibitspolicy records_request2026-10-15
Hillsborough County School DistrictHillsboroughProhibits5630 via crew2026-10-04
HOLMESHolmesConsent requiredpolicy via crew2026-10-04
Indian River County School DistrictIndian RiverNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
JACKSONJacksonProhibitspolicy found & read2026-09-25
Lafayette County School DistrictLafayetteConsent requiredpolicy via crew2026-10-04
Lee County School DistrictLeeProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Leon County School DistrictLeonProhibits5500 via crew2026-10-04
LEVYLevyAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Liberty County School DistrictLibertyAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Manatee County School DistrictManateeNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Miami-Dade County Public SchoolsMiami-DadeProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Monroe County School DistrictMonroeNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Okaloosa CountyOkaloosaProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Okeechobee County School DistrictOkeechobeeNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Orange County Public SchoolsOrangeProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Osceola County School DistrictOsceolaNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Palm Beach County School DistrictPalm BeachNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Pasco County School DistrictPascoNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Pinellas County School DistrictPinellasProhibits5500.10 via crew2026-10-04
Polk County School DistrictPolkProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Santa Rosa County School DistrictSanta RosaNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Sarasota County School DistrictSarasotaProhibits5.30 via crew2026-10-04
Seminole County School DistrictSeminoleNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
St. Lucie County School DistrictSt. LucieNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Sumter County School DistrictSumterNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
SuwanneeSuwanneeAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Taylor CountyTaylorProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
Union County School DistrictUnionNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Volusia CountyVolusiaProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
WakullaWakullaConsent requiredpolicy via crew2026-10-04
Walton CountyWaltonProhibitspolicy via crew2026-10-04
WashingtonWashingtonAllowspolicy via crew2026-10-04

In the news

Do something

Parents

File the written refusal with your child's school. In this state the school also needs your signed consent before any paddling.

Everyone

Write the board or your legislator with the numbers above. The templates cite only verified facts.

Agents

Every district in this state needs a sourced policy entry. The district scan takes about an hour per 40 districts.