As California endures another scorching stretch of summer-like heat well into the school year, two new state laws are attempting to tackle a problem that many families and educators say has become impossible to ignore: children getting sick — and in at least one tragic case, dying — from extreme heat at school.
Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed legislation directing the California Board of Education to consider adding lessons on heat illness symptoms to the state’s health curriculum. It follows a separate law, signed in 2024, that required school districts across the state to finalize heat-safety protocols for outdoor activities by July 1 of this year.
Both measures are being welcomed by parents, school nurses and environmental advocates as important first steps. But critics note that neither law comes with funding attached — meaning schools still lack money for the air conditioning upgrades, shade structures and updated curriculum that experts say are truly needed to keep children safe as heat waves grow more frequent and severe.
“These laws show that kids in California are already being hurt by extreme heat,” said Sarah Matsumoto, policy director for the nonprofit Green Schoolyards America. “This isn’t some future risk. We need a real, comprehensive plan to protect children from it now.”
A student’s idea becomes law
The push for heat education legislation traces back to a fourth grader in Sacramento. During a brutal, record-setting heat wave in 2022, the air conditioning failed in Natalie Rubio’s school cafeteria, forcing students to eat lunch outdoors in triple-digit temperatures.
Rubio, now 13, remembers classmates growing flushed, developing headaches and showing other signs of heat illness that day. She later brought her experience to state lawmakers, helping inspire Assembly Bill 1653, authored by Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Palmdale Republican.
“This bill creates no mandates,” Lackey said during a legislative hearing. “It simply promotes awareness and prevention. Because sometimes the most powerful way to protect our students is by giving them the knowledge to protect themselves.”
The stakes are rising. According to Tracking California, a public health surveillance project run by the Public Health Institute, 618 children ages 5 to 17 were treated in California emergency rooms for heat-related illness in 2024 — a roughly 30% increase over the year before.
Extreme heat has also disrupted learning statewide. Data from the nonprofit UndauntedK12 shows California students lost more than 40,000 hours of classroom instruction during the 2025-26 school year due to heat-related closures, which accounted for nearly three-quarters of all weather-related school shutdowns in the fall semester.
Rubio hopes the new law leads to short, age-appropriate lessons and regular reminders during heat waves. “I want schools to teach every student the signs and symptoms of heat illness and how to respond in a memorable way,” she said.
However, the law does not guarantee new classroom material will actually appear. Any changes would have to be folded into the state’s health education framework — a voluntary guide covering topics such as nutrition and mental health that was last updated in 2019. According to the governor’s office, updating that framework again would require the Legislature to both authorize and fund the effort. The state Board of Education did not respond to questions about its plans.
Stephanie Seidmon, a project manager with UndauntedK12, said her organization backed the bill in part because it offers a low-cost option “at a time when our state budget is limited.”
Even without curriculum changes yet in place, school nurses say simply raising awareness could help. “Students might not realize that this headache or this dizziness might not just be feeling tired but could be a sign of heat illness,” said Rosemarie Dowell, government relations chair for the California School Nurses Organization. “That can empower them to react for themselves, react for somebody else, to encourage them to get water, find shade, or tell an adult.”
New rules for outdoor activity
Currently, the California Department of Education offers no statewide standard for how hot is too hot for outdoor recess or physical education. Instead, districts are pointed toward general resources, including state health department guidance defining “extreme heat” as conditions lasting more than two days and nights.
At the high school sports level, an estimated 9,000 student athletes nationwide suffer from heat-related illness each year, with most cases occurring in August, according to national research. The California Interscholastic Federation, which oversees high school athletics, does set enforceable heat rules, including guidelines on practice scheduling and hydration breaks.
Senate Bill 1248, authored by Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Bakersfield Democrat, requires all California schools to establish formal protocols for outdoor activities during extreme heat, including clear thresholds for canceling recess or sports practice, monitoring weather conditions, offering indoor alternatives, and training staff to spot signs of heat stress. Districts were required to have those plans finalized by July 1.
The law was inspired by the death of Yahshua Robinson, a 12-year-old Lake Elsinore student who collapsed and died in August 2023 during a P.E. class held in extreme heat. Testifying before lawmakers in 2024, his mother described the conditions that led to his death.
“It was in the nineties outside that day, and even the best and highly trained athletes wouldn’t run in it,” she said. “Yet Yahshua’s class of middle schoolers were made to run in that heat. Physical education should happen only in environments conducive for physical activity.”
A costly problem, still unfunded
While the new laws focus on education and planning, advocates argue the deeper issue is infrastructure — and money. Many California schools, particularly older campuses, were never built to withstand the kind of sustained heat now common across the state.
“Many of our school buildings were built before the era of extreme heat fueled by climate change,” Seidmon said. “Our kids are playing on playgrounds, in schoolyards and on fields that don’t have shade… It’s critical that our school buildings and grounds protect our children from extreme heat.”
Emily Penner, an associate professor of education at UC Irvine studying how schools are adapting to rising temperatures, said responses vary significantly depending on region. Districts that have already dealt with severe heat for years tend to be quicker to adopt heat-resistant playground materials or prioritize air-conditioned school buses.
“This is a case where we have some pretty concrete things we know we need to do, like put HVAC at most schools across the state,” Penner said, “and now we have to figure out how to marshal political support for something like that.”
Funding falls short
Even when money has been made available, it hasn’t stretched far enough. In 2020, state lawmakers created CalShape, a ratepayer-funded program to help schools assess and upgrade aging air conditioning systems. But the California Energy Commission, which administers the program, paused new applications in 2024 due to budget pressures. Roughly $200 million in unused funds could be returned to investor-owned utilities if the Legislature doesn’t act by year’s end.
Voters approved additional funding in 2024 through Proposition 2, a $10 billion school facilities bond — but statewide modernization needs already exceed what that money can cover. A separate measure, Proposition 4, directs another $10 billion toward climate-related projects, including $50 million for California’s Urban Forestry Program, which supports efforts to add greenery and shade, including at school sites.
Still, advocates say the state has a long way to go.
“Compared to the federal government and many states, California is one of the leaders in this issue,” Matsumoto said. “And we are still not collectively meeting the moment.”
Original source: CalMatters
