Drinking water: schoolsites: lead testing pilot program.

Existing law establishes the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who serves as the director of the State Department of Education and has numerous other duties, including superintending the schools of the state. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to establish a grant program, in consultation with the department, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child daycare facilities located on public school property. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a pilot program to test for and remediate lead contamination in drinking water at participating local educational agency facilities with plumbing that was installed before January 1, 2010. The bill would require the Superintendent to select no fewer than 6 and no more than 10 local educational agencies for participation in the pilot program and, if a selected local educational agency consents to participate in the pilot program, the bill would require the Superintendent to provide grants to the participating local educational agencies for testing and remediating drinking water lead levels at eligible facilities. If sampling results show lead levels in excess of 5 parts per billion in water at any potable water system outlet, the bill would require a participating local educational agency to notify the parents and guardians of pupils who attend the school of the elevated lead levels, as provided, to take immediate steps to shut down all potable water use at potable water system outlets where excess lead levels may exist, and to ensure that a lead-free source of drinking water is provided for pupils at each potable water system outlet that has been shut down. The bill would require a public institution of higher education selected by the Superintendent to provide technical assistance to participating local educational agencies on the requirements of the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require participating local educational agencies to report specified information about the pilot program to the technical assistance provider on or before January 1, 2028. The bill would require the technical assistance provider to provide the Superintendent with a report containing a completed analysis of the pilot program's results on or before July 1, 2028. The bill would require the Superintendent to provide the report to the Department of Finance and the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 15, 2028, and would require the Superintendent to make the report publicly available on the State Department of Education's internet website.