Parents send their children to school expecting the adults in the building to keep them safe. When bullying is reported and nothing changes, the harm can be serious: injuries, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and in the worst cases, death.
This guide explains when a California school district can be legally responsible for bullying, what the law requires schools to do, where the law limits a claim, and what families should do now.
If a child is in crisis or talking about suicide, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) right away. If someone is in danger, call 911.
A recent case in Los Angeles
On September 30, 2026, a 17-year-old student died after a fall from a fourth-floor balcony at Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park, a Los Angeles Unified School District campus. His family says he had been bullied in the days before his death. Witnesses reported a physical altercation in a fourth-floor classroom before the fall. Police have not announced a final finding on how or why he fell.
Read our report: Family Says Franklin High School Student Was Bullied Before Fatal Fall.
The facts of that case are still unknown, and nothing in this guide is a statement about what happened there. But it raises the question many parents ask: when a school knows about bullying, what is it required to do?
What California law requires schools to do
Supervise students and protect them from foreseeable harm
California courts have held for decades that school staff must supervise students and use reasonable care to protect them from harm that can be foreseen, including harm caused by other students. The California Supreme Court set out this duty in Dailey v. Los Angeles Unified School District (1970) 2 Cal.3d 741. Education Code section 44807 also requires teachers to hold students to strict account for their conduct on the way to and from school, on the playgrounds and during recess.
A school is not expected to prevent every fight or every cruel remark. The question is whether staff acted reasonably with what they knew, or should have known.
Have, and follow, anti-bullying policies
California law defines bullying in Education Code section 48900(r). It includes severe or pervasive physical or verbal acts, including electronic acts (cyberbullying), that put, or can reasonably be expected to put, a student in reasonable fear of harm, or that substantially harm the student’s physical or mental health, schoolwork or ability to take part in school.
Under the Safe Place to Learn Act (Education Code sections 234 to 234.5), every district must adopt policies that prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying based on actual or perceived protected traits, such as race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The policies must include a process for receiving and investigating complaints. They must also require school staff who see these acts to step in when it is safe to do so. Most districts also have general anti-bullying policies, and staff are expected to follow them.
Districts must post these policies, their anti-cyberbullying procedures and their suicide prevention policies on their websites (Education Code section 234.6). A 2025 law, AB 772, required the state to publish a model policy on how schools address reported cyberbullying that happens outside school hours. Each school district, county office of education and charter school serving grades 4 to 12 must adopt such a policy by July 1, 2027. The law does not itself make schools liable for failing to act on off-campus cyberbullying.
When a school district can be held responsible
A public school district is a public entity. In California, a public entity can be sued for injuries only when a statute allows it. The main statute here is Government Code section 815.2: the district is responsible for injuries caused by its employees’ negligence in the course of their work.
In practice, a bullying claim against a district usually has to show:
- Notice. Staff knew, or should have known, about the bullying. Reports from the student or parents, earlier incidents, emails to teachers, nurse visits, discipline records and messages from other students can all show notice.
- An unreasonable response. Staff did not take reasonable steps. Common examples: no investigation, no supervision in places where bullying kept happening, no call to the parents, no follow-up, or not following the district’s own anti-bullying policy.
- Harm caused by that failure. The student was injured, physically or emotionally, because the school did not act.
A district can also be responsible when administrators negligently hire, retain or supervise the staff who were supposed to protect students. The California Supreme Court confirmed this in C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District (2012) 53 Cal.4th 861.
A recent example
In 2025, a California Court of Appeal upheld a $1 million jury award against the El Segundo Unified School District (E.I. v. El Segundo Unified School District (2025) 111 Cal.App.5th 1267). A middle school student was bullied for months, including a petition that called for her life to end. Her family reported it again and again. The school did not follow its own procedures. She developed post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety.
The district argued that its staff’s decisions were protected “discretionary” choices. The court disagreed. Responding to bullying reports under an existing policy is the job of carrying out the policy, not a high-level policy decision, so that immunity did not apply.
Bullying based on who a student is
When bullying targets a student because of race, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or another protected trait, more laws can apply. Education Code section 220 prohibits this discrimination in California schools. A California court held in Donovan v. Poway Unified School District (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 567 that a district can owe money damages when it had actual knowledge of this kind of student-on-student harassment and was deliberately indifferent to it. Federal law can apply in the same way, including Title IX for harassment based on sex (Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999) 526 U.S. 629).
Where the law limits a claim
Off campus and after school
Education Code section 44808 generally protects a district from liability for what happens when a student is not on school property, unless the district took responsibility for the student at that time, for example on school transportation or at a school-sponsored activity.
California courts have applied this rule to tragic cases. In LeRoy v. Yarboi (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 737, a bullied student died by suicide at home during summer break, and the court held the district immune. In January 2026, an appeals court reached the same result for a wrongful death claim after an 11-year-old died by suicide at home during winter break (Vallejo City Unified School District v. Superior Court). But the court allowed her family’s separate claim for harm she suffered on campus, while she was under the school’s supervision, to go forward. That ruling did not decide whether the family will win that claim.
The lesson: where and when the harm happened matters a great deal. Harm that happens at school, during school activities or under school supervision is where a district’s duty is strongest.
Cyberbullying
Online bullying often happens at night and on personal phones. A district is not automatically responsible for it. But when online bullying spills into school, is reported to staff, or is part of a pattern that continues on campus, the school’s duty to respond can apply. Screenshots and dates are critical.
Proving that the school’s failure caused the harm
Districts often argue that the harm would have happened anyway, or that something outside school caused it. Medical and counseling records, a clear timeline, and evidence of what the school knew and when are usually what decide this question.
The deadline: a government claim, usually within six months
Before you can sue a California public school district for injuries or wrongful death, you must first file a written government claim with the district. Under the Government Claims Act, the claim generally must be filed within six months of the injury (Government Code section 911.2). If the district rejects the claim, there is usually a short time, often six months from the written rejection, to file the lawsuit (Government Code section 945.6).
Being a minor does not pause the six-month deadline. If the injured child was a minor during the claim period, the law gives a stronger right to file a late claim (Government Code sections 911.4 and 911.6). That application has its own strict deadline, generally within one year of the injury. In a wrongful death case the claimants are usually the parents, so the six-month rule applies. Claims for childhood sexual assault follow different rules.
Charter schools and private schools can follow different rules. Ask a lawyer which rules apply to your child’s school.
Do not wait for the school’s own investigation to finish. The claim deadline keeps running while a school investigates.
Who else can be responsible
- The students who caused the harm, and in some cases their parents. California Civil Code section 1714.1 makes parents responsible for willful misconduct by their minor child, but for injuries this is limited to medical, dental and hospital costs, up to a cap set by law.
- Individual employees whose negligence caused the harm. The district usually pays for its employees’ work-related negligence.
- Other organizations that supervised the students, such as an after-school program, a camp or a sports league.
What families can recover
Depending on the facts, a claim can include medical and counseling costs, future care, the cost of changing schools, and compensation for pain, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. When a child dies, the parents can bring a wrongful death claim for the loss of their child’s love, companionship and support, and for funeral costs.
What to do now
- Get your child safe and get care. See a doctor or counselor. Records of injuries and emotional harm matter.
- Report the bullying in writing. Email the principal and the teacher. Ask the school to investigate under its anti-bullying policy. If the bullying is based on a protected trait, ask for an investigation under the district’s Uniform Complaint Procedures.
- Keep everything. Screenshots with dates, texts, social media posts, emails to and from the school, report cards, attendance records and nurse visits.
- Write a timeline. What happened, when, who you told and what the school did.
- Ask for records. You can ask for your child’s school records, including discipline and incident reports.
- Talk to a lawyer early. The six-month claim deadline is short, and evidence such as video and messages can be lost.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sue a school for not stopping bullying?
Yes, in some cases. You must usually show that staff knew or should have known about the bullying, did not respond reasonably, and that this failure caused your child’s harm. A government claim must usually be filed within six months first.
Is the school responsible if the bullying happened online?
Not automatically. Off-campus conduct is usually outside the district’s liability unless the school had taken responsibility for the student at that time. But if online bullying was reported to the school or continued at school, the school’s duty to respond can apply.
What if my child was hurt in a fight at school?
A school is not responsible for every fight. It can be responsible when the fight was foreseeable, for example after earlier threats or reports, and staff did not supervise or step in reasonably.
Does the claim deadline wait until my child turns 18?
Usually not. Claims against public school districts generally have a six-month deadline for the written government claim. Minors have a stronger right to ask to file a late claim, but that request must itself be filed within about one year of the injury. Talk to a lawyer as soon as possible.
This article is general information about California law, not legal advice for your situation. The law in this area changes, and every case depends on its facts. Updated October 2026.