(1) Existing law authorizes specified drowning or injury prevention organizations (DIP organization) to provide informational materials, in electronic or hardcopy form, to a public school regarding specified topics relating to drowning prevention. Existing law expressly authorizes, beginning with the 2024–25 school year, upon receipt of the informational materials, a public school to provide the informational materials to parents, legal guardians, or caregivers of pupils at the time the pupil enrolls at the school and at the beginning of each school year.
This bill, beginning with the 2026–27 school year, would expressly authorize a public school to also provide those informational materials to parents, legal guardians, or caregivers of pupils at a period of time agreed upon between the public school and the DIP organization, except that the materials are prohibited from being provided later than the first week of May, as provided. The bill would provide restrictions on a DIP organization that chooses to provide informational materials to a public school, including, among other things, that the DIP organization correspond only with a school administrator to request to work with the public school and that the DIP organization provide written evidence to the school administrator that demonstrates that the informational materials provided by the DIP organization align with the drowning, drowning prevention, water safety, and swim skills lesson information of at least one expert organization, as defined. The bill would provide that a school administrator who receives informational materials from multiple DIP organizations may consider specified factors when selecting which DIP organization to work with, as provided. The bill would provide that if a school administrator selects informational materials from a DIP organization for a given school year, other DIP organizations are prohibited from contesting those informational materials, as provided.
(2) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to prepare and distribute to school districts guidelines for the preparation of comprehensive health education plans, as provided. Existing law defines a "comprehensive" health education programs" as all educational programs offered in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in the public school system, including in-class and out-of-class activities designed to, among other things, ensure that pupils receive instruction to aid them in making decisions in matters of personal, family, and community health, including, among other subjects, environmental health and safety and community health, as provided.
This bill would add water safety and drowning prevention to the list of the above-described subjects. The bill would require the department to gather and make available on its internet website, school-based water safety and prevention education resources and curriculum, as provided.
(3) Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, which consists of various departments, including the Department of Parks and Recreation. Existing law requires the Director of Parks and Recreation to establish the Outdoor Equity Grants Program to increase the ability of underserved and at-risk populations to participate in outdoor environmental educational experiences at state parks and other public lands where outdoor environmental education programs take place.
This bill would establish the Swimming Lesson Voucher Pilot Program and require the department to administer the program, for the purpose of increasing water safety in this state by offering vouchers for swimming lessons at no cost to children under 18 years of age whose families have an income of no more than 250% of the federal poverty level. The bill would require the department, in administering the program, to, among other things, (A) develop written agreements with, and establish a network of, swimming lesson vendors that accept swimming lesson vouchers offered by the program in exchange for providing swimming lessons, (B) establish the application method and eligibility criteria for swimming lesson vouchers, (C) develop, in consultation with a specified foundation, a free and publicly accessible online statewide directory of swim lesson programs, listed by county, and (D) seek various contributors that will fund or match funds to cover the cost of the program and the development of the online statewide directory. The bill would authorize the department to administer the program through regional public or private partners, or both. The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute or as otherwise provided.

Statutes affected:
AB 1005: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC
02/20/25 - Introduced: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC