Starting July 1, 2026, SB 848, written by State Senator Sasha Perez (D-Pasadena), will go into effect and was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The new so-called “Safe Learning Environments Act” on child abuse prevention in classrooms and conduct Misconduct by teachers and school employees will require a comprehensive school plan that includes procedures for reporting child abuse or neglect.

The plan must include statewide procedures specifically designed to address the supervision and protection of children from child abuse or neglect and sexual offenses.

By imposing additional obligations on local educational agencies, the law would impose a mandatory local program at the state level.

According to Senator Perez, SB 848 strengthens student safety in California schools by requiring updates to Comprehensive School Safety Plans with clear procedures to prevent, detect, and address sexual misconduct by school employees.

This new law also expands mandatory reporting requirements, improves training for employees and students, and revises relevant statutory provisions to ensure greater protections.

“This law will protect children from sexual misconduct by school employees. It’s that simple,” said Senator Perez. Perez.

“We all recognize that most teachers and classified staff are dedicated professionals, but even a small fraction of school employees who commit child abuse can cause catastrophic harm. SB 848 will create a system to protect our students.”

Specifically, the Safe Learning Environments Act will ensure that serious misconduct is reported and tracked by establishing an electronic misconduct database for non-certified employees. This law will expand employment history checks to cover all school employees.

The state senator also thanked a group of survivors who spoke out and publicly shared their stories of trauma to protect students.

“The system failed me.”

One of them, Cassandra, explained that during her childhood she was a victim in one of the largest child sexual abuse scandals in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

“This new law [SB 848] can protect students who trust their teachers who love learning and would never imagine their trust being manipulated,” she explained.

Cassandra recounted that she personally experienced what are now known as patterns of bullying and boundary violations by educators at the time.

“There is no name to describe it, there is no safety protocol, there is no designated person to report such things when you are in that position [as a victim] at that moment,” she noted. “I didn’t know who to tell.”

Cassandra explained that as a child, she was afraid of the unknown and was precise when she said, “The system failed me. Not because people didn’t care, but because they didn’t recognize those patterns [of sexual assault and harassment] and there weren’t adequate reports to understand the bigger picture of what can happen to students.”

LAUSD’s worst scandal

The sexual abuse scandal at Miramonte Elementary School in South Los Angeles had as its main perpetrator teacher Mark Berndt, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for assaulting nearly 15 children. Bernd was a teacher from 1979 until his dismissal in 2011.

His misdeeds included feeding children cookies contaminated with his own semen, blindfolding them, and taking lewd photographs. In 2014, LAUSD was accused of destroying records dating back to 1988 against Berndt and was ordered to first pay approximately $140 million to 81 victims, another $30 million in 2013 to the families of 58 victims, and $3.5 million in 2024 to two more victims of the former child abuser.

Dr. Caroline Heldman, president and CEO of Stand With Survivors, said a 2023 report documented more than 2,000 reports of child sexual assault in California classrooms.

“We can’t fail kids anymore.”

Cindy Lamb’s first paid job came when she was 15. She was hired as a pianist for the Rosemead High School choir.

“From day one, my choir teacher intentionally treated me like an adult instead of a teenager,” she explained.

“We started by going to get coffee before our private rehearsals, with greetings like ‘Hello.“He would tap me on the forehead to say hello and squeeze my shoulders affectionately,” she recalled.

Those greetings quickly became part of their routine.

“We started spending more and more time together,” she adds. “He told me, ‘If you don’t join the choir next year, I’ll have to find another accompanist. I can’t lead the choir without you. I need you.’”

Then came the fatherly advice from the teacher: “It’s vulgar to have your bra straps showing,” and the unsolicited advances about sexuality in a marriage.

That teacher became Cindy’s confidant and mentor.

“He constantly showed his affection for me, both in private and in front of other students,” the 41-year-old emphasizes.

“By the time he started having sex with me, I was an object of desire for him. And by the time I realized I had been manipulated, I was completely isolated and psychologically devastated,” Cindy said.

She says it’s “tragically” the same situation as too many children who seek comfort and safety in school only to end up in the hands of sexual predators.

Because of this, she believes a measure like SB 848 would have properly educated her about manipulative behavior.

“I would have known these interactions were inappropriate and would have reported them,” she said. “My abuser would be in jail and he would never be able to work with children again.”

Instead, that sexual predator has been able to avoid these consequences, resigning twice from two different schools: Rosemead High School in Rosemead and Gabrielino High School in San Gabriel.

“He is now free to apply for other teaching jobs without revealing what he did to me,” explained the sexual abuse victim.

Cindy emphasized that the students and children of California deserved the support of SB 848.

“We can no longer fail them,” she stressed. “They deserve this common-sense protection, and we as a society can no longer afford to fail them.”

Urgent Change Was Needed

Leslie Gaytan, a Rosemead High School alumna, now a mother and sexual assault survivor, supported SB 848, introduced by State Senator Sasha Perez.

“I experienced sexual harassment, bullying, and inappropriate behavior from three different teachers. I believed they were there to protect and guide us.”

She noted that if a law like SB 848, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, had existed, “at least one of the teachers who assaulted me—a teacher with a known history of misconduct—would not have been able to continue teaching.”

Despite that history of sexually harassing students, the teacher remained in the classroom and continued to abuse students.

In a second case, the teacher’s misconduct came to the attention of a school administrator, but no action was taken.

“That failure allowed another predator to continue harming other students,” said Leslie Gaytan, who called the failures “devastating” and demonstrate why legislative change was so urgently needed.

“Every student in California deserves a safe, accountable, and vigilant school,” she said. “No student or child should have to suffer what I and so many others have endured.”