Martin Vassolo & Elizabeth Koh:

One day before the first anniversary of the Parkland school shooting, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury tasked with examining and reviewing school safety measures in Broward County and across the state, “as well as the responses of public entities to laws designed to protect schools such as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.”

DeSantis appeared in Broward on Wednesday afternoon with several family members whose loved ones were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. He said the grand jury would be able to issue subpoenas, look into any potential failures and determine how the Broward school district and others carried out safety policies or used funds allocated for school hardening.

The grand jury would look for violations of the law related to Florida Statute 905.34, such as whether refusal or failure to follow a school-safety law put students at risk, if school officials diverted funds from “multi-million dollar bonds specifically solicited for school safety initiatives” or if officials underreported crimes to the Florida Department of Education. Florida’s high court confirmed receipt of the petition Wednesday evening, posting the document to its website.