Icky School Bathrooms Now Unlawful in California

Published March 1, 2004

While a recent study indicates it takes six years or more to build a new school in California, any problems with bathrooms in those schools must be fixed within 30 days, thanks to heightened state accountability requirements that went into effect on January 1.

Bathrooms in the Golden State’s public and private schools that are dirty, unstocked, or contain broken equipment are now against the law, and schools risk the loss of state maintenance funds if the problems persist.

“This legislation will ensure clean bathrooms for our students,” said State Senator Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles), the author of the legislation, SB 892.

The California Teachers Association supported the new law, as did the California School Employees Association, which represents custodians. According to the Sacramento Bee, private school officials regard the law as unnecessary state intrusion, while representatives of public schools indicated they would try to hold the state responsible for funding the new bathroom mandate.

G.C.


For more information …

The clean bathroom law that was added to California’s Education Code is available online at http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0851-0900/sb_892_bill_20030911_enrolled.html.