- The Florida Senate has approved SB 732 to establish a “Collegiate Purple Star Campuses” program in universities statewide.
- The program aims to support active duty members, veterans, and reserve components of the military who are enrolled in Florida College System (FCS) institutions, state universities, or career centers.
- To be designated as a Purple Star Campus, an institution must appoint a military liaison, maintain a dedicated webpage with information and resources for military families, establish a student-led transition program for military students, provide professional development training for staff, and reserve at least 5 percent of controlled open enrollment seats for military students.
Without any dissenting votes, the Florida Senate approved SB 732, paving the way for the establishment of a “Collegiate Purple Star Campuses” program in universities statewide.
The initiative is designed to provide support to students who are active duty members, veterans, or reserve components of the military and enrolled in Florida College System (FCS) institutions, state universities, or career centers.
To be designated as a Purple Star Campus, an institution must appoint a military liaison, maintain a dedicated webpage featuring information and resources for military families, establish a student-led transition program to assist military students, provide professional development training for staff, and reserve at least 5 percent of controlled open enrollment seats for military students.
“This program will allow these campuses to identify themselves as institutions that understand and respect the unique needs of student veterans and military-connected students,” said Sen. Tom A. Wright. “Participating institutions will be required to make a variety of resources available to support military students.”
The implementation of the program, including the adoption of rules and regulations and the establishment of minimum requirements, will be the responsibility of the State Board of Education (SBE) and the Board of Governors (BOG). Additionally, the SBE and BOG have the authority to set additional criteria for identifying potential institutions for the program.
Similar programs have been successfully implemented in 36 other states, and currently, Florida has 122 K-12 Purple Star Schools of Distinction located in 10 counties. Recently, the K-12 program expanded with the addition of 114 schools in November. Among the counties, Okaloosa has the highest number of schools receiving the distinction, with 35 schools, while the remaining 79 schools are spread across Brevard, Citrus, Clay, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Walton, Monroe, and Santa Rosa counties.
Gov. Ron DeSantis noted that the Okaloosa County School District has the highest number of military-connected students in Florida, with more than 5,600 students. The Purple Star designation recognizes schools that provide support to military families, establishing the foundation for programs that assist military-connected students in navigating challenges and accessing resources during the transition to a new school environment.
Similar to the higher education model, K-12 schools participating in the program are required to have six core tenets: a designated military point of contact, an informative school webpage, a comprehensive transition program for children of military families, specialized professional development for staff, controlled open enrollment, and additional activities.