The California School Boards Association is backing a bill giving school systems limited liability from COVID-19 lawsuits if schools reopen this fall.
“Funding for California schools is essentially even with last year’s total,” Troy Flint, spokesman for the association told the Southern California Record. “This year, schools are facing unprecedented challenges and mountains of expenses related to health and safety during a pandemic.”
Under AB 1384, a bill introduced by State Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) “as long as schools work to the best of their ability and make a good-faith effort to create a safe environment for students, staff and communities, they will not be held liable for the inadequacy of the state in terms of providing the necessary resources,” Flint said.
There remains a great deal of uncertainty over the virus, Flint said.
“It’s impossible to account for all the different scenarios because we don’t even understand how this virus works,” he said. “We have not really had school in session during the portion of the pandemic when the virus has been extremely prevalent.”
Educators are “venturing into the unknown and we need to operate on a good-faith standard,” the spokesman said.
With the legislation, school systems would be held responsible for the state’s failures to provide sufficient support, funding and resources, Flint said.
The legislation should be a high priority but will not guarantee a successful reopening, Flint said.
“Schools still face the daunting prospect of trying to reopen with inadequate resources, funding and support,” he said. “That makes this bill even more critical.”
The bill would not prevent school staff from filing suit over COVID-19, he said.
“The staff members already have recourse in the system,” said Flint. “This bill would focus more on those members of the school community that are not already covered under recourse given to labor.”