Lawmaker Proposes Allowing Children Of Live-In Workers To Attend Local Schools

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Children of nannies, housekeepers, and other live-in employees would be eligible to attend local schools where their parents live and work a majority of the work week under legislation proposed by a Bell Gardens lawmaker.

Democratic State Senator Ricardo Lara is the co-author of Senate Bill 200 (PDF), which would update California's school residency laws to ensure that live-in workers - ranging from caregivers to gardeners - whose children live at their place of employment would be able to attend school in the district in which they work if they reside there for at least 3 days during the school week.

Lara cited a case in Nov. 2014 where reports came out of a second-grade child of a full-time nanny who was kicked out of her school after the district hired a private investigator. The school district initially refused to let the child continue attending despite its "ability to grant the child residency due to her mother's employment."

"The district's decision put the family in a difficult situation, where the child would have to be separated from her mother or the mother would have to quit her job," said Lara.

District officials eventually reversed the decision in response to community outrage, but required the employer to become the legal guardian of the child.

Similar situations aren't limited to Southern California, according to Lara, who says across the state caregivers, nannies, and other workers whose jobs require them to stay overnight are faced with challenges over where their children can go to school.

"Many workers are required to live part or full-time with their employers to fulfill their duties while caring for others," said Lara. "It is simply wrong to believe that certain workers are okay to hire for service-jobs but not okay for their children to attend local schools. This bill will keep families together and provide a fair shot for children of live-in workers to attend school conveniently where their parents work."

The legislation is currently under review in the state Senate Rules Committee.