Flanked by education community representatives, Secretary of Education Kerry Mazzoni announced at a September 9 morning news conference that Gov. Davis was signing a new measure formalizing school districts' responsibilities for keeping bathrooms clean and in good working order.
CTA-backed AB 1124, by Assembly Member Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), does not provide new funding for schools, but it does make it clear that districts must use existing maintenance appropriations to keep restrooms clean and workable.
Assembly Member Nunez said, "School districts often save those monies for a rainy day while children can't even walk into the restrooms."
He said the measure will increase districts' accountability to the public for maintaining their restrooms.
At the news conference were Sacramento City Teachers Association President Marcie Launey and representatives of the California State PTA, the California School Employees Association, and the California Federation of Teachers.
CTA has backed the measure because the Association's more than 335,000 members believe public officials must take all necessary corrective actions to ensure that every public school in California has restroom facilities that are clean, fully operational, and fully stocked with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels or hand dryers. CTA members are vitally concerned about unsanitary restrooms, which pose a serious threat to the health of students and teachers alike.