Portantino Bill to Protect School Employees Advances in State Senate

State Sen. Anthony J. Portantino’s (D-Pasadena) SB 805 cleared the Senate Education Committee earlier this week and is now headed to Senate Appropriations.

SB 805 protects school districts from losing Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funds and prevents state and school officials from forcing school employees to use their sick, vacation, or other paid leave in the event there is a natural disaster that forces the employee to evacuate their home or the school.

The bill also protects school employees impacted by the Coronavirus.

Under current law, there are no protections for school district employees when a natural disaster occurs. It is required for them to use their own personal earned time off to make up for those hours lost in a natural disaster. SB 805 will place protections on our school employees earned sick, vacation, and paid time off and ensure school districts earn their Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding when California declares a natural disaster. This bill is a win-win for both schools and their employees.

“School employees should not be forced to use their earned time off when faced with a natural disaster or if the employee has to evacuate their home.  It just feels wrong and I was grateful for the suggestion from the BUSD to fix the situation. The idea for this bill originally came about due to the threat of wildfires but I believe it has become even more important in light of the ongoing pandemic,” Senator Portantino said in a prepared statement.

An employee in the Burbank Unified School District suggested the bill.

Last year, the Burbank Unified community was impacted by wildfires and evacuations. Many of its employees also lived in areas outside the district that also faced similar evacuation orders.

“Our members reached out and told us about the degree of hardship created when their lives were impacted by natural disasters and through no fault of theirs were unable to come to work.  The only way they could be compensated was to use their own earned time.  We brought this issue forward to Supt. Hill and are happy to see that Senator Portantino responded to our concerns and took action,” added Diana Abasta, President BTA.