Existing law regulates mandated reporting, training, and safety planning in public schools but does not apply the same requirements to private schools. Current law requires public and private school employees and certain volunteers to serve as mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and neglect, with failure to report punishable as a misdemeanor. However, public schools must also provide annual mandated reporter training and adopt policies on professional boundaries, electronic communications, and student safety. In addition, public schools are subject to certain background checks, employment history disclosure requirements, and various safety and misconduct reporting rules.
This bill extends all of these requirements to all private schools, including independent and religious schools:
- Mandated Reporting (Effective January 1, 2026): All private school board members, and most volunteers are now mandated reporters under Penal Code Section 11165.7.
- Training Requirements (Effective July 1, 2026): Private schools must provide annual mandated reporter training to employees, contractors, board members, and qualifying volunteers. Schools must also implement annual abuse-prevention and professional-boundaries training for adults. The Superintendent will issue guidance for age-appropriate student instruction in abuse prevention and boundaries. Private schools are not required to provide this instruction, but they may choose to offer it annually, and parents have the right to opt their children out of this instruction.
- School Safety and Professional Boundaries Policies (Effective July 1, 2026): Private Schools must adopt written policies that promote safe learning environments and explicitly address: (1) professional boundaries between students and adults, between students, and among adults working or volunteering at the school; (2) limits on electronic communications (including social media and text messaging) between staff and students outside of parent-inclusive channels, with allowances based on student’s age; and (3) facility safety plans ensuring classrooms and non-classroom areas are designed and furnished for easy supervision and safe engagement.
- Employment Screening & Misconduct Database (Effective July 1, 2027): Private schools must collect complete employment histories, contact prior school employers to check for substantiated egregious misconduct, and disclose substantiated egregious misconduct when contacted by future employers. Beginning in 2027, schools must participate in a statewide database by reporting the initiation and conclusion of egregious misconduct investigations, noting departures during an investigation, and updating employee status. Schools must also check the database before hiring new employees.
Private schools must immediately expand mandated reporter coverage and begin planning to implement mandated reporter training, abuse-prevention training, and school-safety and professional boundaries policies by July 2026. They must also prepare for major changes to hiring practices and compliance with the statewide misconduct database by 2027.
(SB 848 adds Section 32100, amends Sections 32280, 32281, 32282, 44010, 44242.5, 44830.1, 44939.5, and 51950, and 44691 to the Education Code; and amends Section 11165.7 to the Penal Code.)
