New California Law Expands Child Abuse Prevention Procedures
- Pati Ortiz
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
4 Action Steps for Compliance
Starting July 1, 2026, all private and religious K–12 schools in California must comply with child abuse prevention and school safety requirements that already apply to public schools. The law, SB 848, aims to create safer learning environments and strengthen accountability across all educational institutions.
Key Requirements - By July 2026, private schools must:
Adopt written safety and boundaries policies that promote safe supervision and professional conduct between students and school personnel.
Provide annual abuse prevention education for students (with an opt-out option for parents).
Implement mandated reporter and abuse prevention training for all employees, contractors, volunteers, and board members.
Update hiring and vetting procedures to include checks against the CTC (Commission on Teacher Credentialing) misconduct database.
CTC Misconduct Database
By July 1, 2027, private schools must both screen job applicants through the CTC’s database and report any credible or substantiated findings of “egregious misconduct” (e.g., sexual, drug-related, or child-endangerment offenses).
Schools must also report when an employee leaves during an ongoing misconduct investigation.
Action Steps for Schools
Review and adopt new safety and abuse-prevention policies.
Identify all staff, contractors, and volunteers requiring mandated reporter training.
Update hiring processes to incorporate database vetting and misconduct reporting.
Revise employee handbooks to reflect the new reporting and compliance procedures.
Implementation Timeline
July 1, 2026: New safety, training, and reporting policies in place.
July 1, 2027: Full integration with the CTC misconduct database required.
In short, SB 848 extends public school-level abuse prevention responsibilities to private and religious schools, emphasizing proactive training, accountability, and cross-institutional vetting to ensure student safety.
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