Emergencies proclaimed by the Governor: school employee catastrophic leave: enrollment reporting.

Assembly Member Muratsuchi's education emergency response legislation expands California's catastrophic leave programs while establishing new tracking requirements for students displaced during state-declared emergencies.

The bill modifies existing catastrophic leave policies to include charter schools alongside school districts and county offices of education, allowing their employees to donate vacation and sick leave to colleagues affected by governor-proclaimed emergencies. Currently, such donations are permitted only for staff facing catastrophic illness or injury. Under the expanded program, eligible employees must exhaust their accrued paid leave before receiving donated credits, which can be transferred in minimum eight-hour increments for up to 12 consecutive months.

Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, the legislation requires the Department of Education to incorporate emergency-related student displacement data into the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). School districts, county offices, and charter schools must report enrollment and disenrollment information for pupils displaced by state-declared emergencies. The bill includes provisions for state reimbursement of associated local costs, subject to review by the Commission on State Mandates.

The measure takes effect immediately upon enactment, with authors citing recent Los Angeles fires that have left educators without sufficient leave to recover from personal losses while creating educational disruptions for displaced students. Local educational agencies retain authority to establish specific rules for administering leave programs, including verification requirements and procedures for irrevocable credit transfers.