Soon, human traffic awareness training will be taught to teachers across Florida.
As part of legislation related to House Bill 1237 Chapter 2025-65 will require the Department of Education to identify a curriculum regarding human trafficking awareness in schools.
“Human Trafficking, under both federal and Florida law, is defined as the transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing or obtaining of another person for transport; for the purposes of forced labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation using force, fraud and/or coercion,” said The Florida Department of Education. “Human trafficking is modern slavery.”
According to the Florida Department of Children and Families the number of reports, initial and additional, accepted by the Florida Abuse Hotline, alleging one of the human trafficking maltreatments was 2,137, involving 1,592 children, during the 2023-24 school year.
As per Ch.2025-65, no later than Dec. 1, 2025, the Department of Education must identify a free training curriculum regarding human trafficking awareness, which must include guidance concerning how to identify students who may be victims of human trafficking, an employee’s role in reporting and responding to suspected human trafficking, and protocols for making such reports to the Department of Children and Families or the Florida Human Trafficking Hotline.
School District of Osceola County Communications Director Dana Schafer said that at this time, the district has only received the official memo from the state that outlines the requirement for the additional training curriculum and resources provided by the state by Dec. 1. She said the district is still awaiting additional guidance from the state.
According to Ch. 2025-65, public and charter schools are required to provide human trafficking awareness training to all employees who work with students, including instructional, administrative, and educational support staff. Furthermore, schools must retain signed acknowledgments from each of these employees. confirming that they have the training either online or face-to-face.
“Trafficking victims are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor,” said the FDOE. “Knowing the signs of human trafficking and knowing how to report it may actually save a life from modern-day slavery.”
House Bill 1237: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/1237
Chapter 2025-65: https://laws.flrules.org/2025/65
The Florida Department of Education: https://www.fldoe. org/schools/healthy-schools/human-trafficking.stml
Florida Department of Children and Families: https://www.myflfamilies.com/sites/default/files/2024-10/Human_ Trafficking_Report_2023-24.pdf.
