California K–12 Human Resources
Mandatory employee training: a role-based guide
A practical starting point for matching statewide and federal training requirements to the people, assignments, exposures, and programs they actually cover.
There is no single training bundle that applies identically to every employee. Some requirements are nearly districtwide; others are activated by supervisory status, grade level, a designated responsibility, occupational exposure, equipment, or a particular program. Build the assignment first, then assign the training.
Start with the employee’s assignment
Use these five screens for each job group. More than one path may apply to the same person.
Part of the workforce?
Start with mandated reporter, harassment prevention, workplace violence, and IIPP requirements.
Supervisor or official?
Check the longer harassment course and ethics-training rules.
Serving a specific student group?
Check grade-span, homeless-education, Title IX, and instructional duties.
Assigned a special function?
Check food service, coaching, security, pesticide, or emergency-response duties.
Exposed to a workplace hazard?
Check bloodborne pathogens, asbestos, heat, noise, PPE, ladder, and equipment rules.
Core requirements to evaluate first
These requirements affect broad employee groups, but the trigger and timing still matter. Confirm each employee’s actual status and assignment.
Mandated reporter and child-abuse prevention
Broad workforce- Who
- LEA employees and other people who meet California’s mandated-reporter definitions. Recent changes also reach specified school volunteers, contractors, and governing-board members with student contact.
- When
- Within the first six weeks of service and within the first six weeks of each school year; retrain when law or duties require.
- Cover
- Identification, reporting duties and timelines, online reporting options, and prevention.
Authority: Education Code § 44691; Penal Code §§ 11165.7 and 11166.5. See the CDE reporting guide.
Sexual-harassment prevention
Broad workforce- Who
- Employees of employers with five or more employees. Supervisors and nonsupervisors have different minimum durations.
- When
- Within six months of hire or promotion and every two years thereafter.
- Duration
- At least two hours for supervisors and one hour for nonsupervisory employees, using an interactive format.
Authority: Government Code §§ 12950 and 12950.1. See the California Civil Rights Department FAQ.
Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
Broad workforce- Who
- Employees covered by the LEA’s Workplace Violence Prevention Plan.
- When
- Initially, annually, and when a new or previously unrecognized workplace-violence hazard is identified or the plan materially changes.
- Format
- Training must be understandable and allow interactive questions and answers with someone knowledgeable about the plan.
Authority: Labor Code §§ 6401.7 and 6401.9. See the Cal/OSHA FAQ.
Injury and Illness Prevention Program
Assignment-triggered- Who
- Employees exposed to the hazards addressed by the employer’s written IIPP.
- When
- For new employees; when an employee receives a new assignment; and when new substances, processes, procedures, equipment, or hazards are introduced.
- Cover
- The hazards, protections, safe work practices, and reporting procedures relevant to the employee’s actual work.
Authority: Labor Code § 6401.7 and 8 CCR § 3203. See Cal/OSHA’s training-requirements index.
Then check role- and exposure-specific requirements
Open each group that intersects with the employee’s duties. This is a screening guide, not a substitute for reviewing the governing rule and local policy.
Governance, investigations, and compliance roles
Ethics training
Role-triggeredGoverning-board members and other covered local-agency officials must complete at least two hours. Incumbent officials had a January 1, 2026 initial deadline; the training repeats every two years. Apply the statute’s compensation, reimbursement, and designation rules to determine who is covered.
Title IX team training
Designated roleTrain the Title IX coordinator, investigators, decision-makers, and anyone who facilitates an informal-resolution process on the subjects required for that role. Training materials must not rely on sex stereotypes, must promote impartial investigations and adjudications, and must be publicly available as required. The 2020 federal rule is currently in effect after the 2024 rule was vacated.
Instruction and student-support responsibilities
LGBTQ+ cultural competency
Grades 7–12Certificated employees serving students in grades 7–12 must receive at least one hour annually during the 2025–26 through 2029–30 school years. Training occurs during paid time. Completion at another California LEA in the same school year may satisfy the requirement.
Homeless education
Assigned staffProvide annual training to the LEA liaison and other employees who offer services to students experiencing homelessness, using state-developed or approved materials as applicable.
Human-trafficking instruction
Assigned instructorsEmployees assigned to provide comprehensive sexual-health education require continuation training that prepares them to deliver the required human-trafficking-prevention instruction.
Bullying-prevention module
Make availableCalifornia law directs an LEA to make the CDE online training module available annually to certificated schoolsite employees and other schoolsite employees who regularly interact with students. This provision does not itself say that every recipient must complete the module; check local policy for an added completion requirement.
Health, emergency response, food service, and athletics
Bloodborne pathogens
Exposure-triggeredTrain employees with occupational exposure at initial assignment and at least annually thereafter. Add training when tasks or procedures change in a way that affects exposure.
Epinephrine and naloxone
Designated volunteersEmployees who volunteer to administer emergency epinephrine auto-injectors or naloxone must receive the training required for that medication and assignment before serving in the role.
AED, CPR, and first aid
Duty-specificTraining may be required by an employee’s credential, assignment, athletics duties, emergency plan, equipment designation, or local policy. Do not assign one universal renewal cycle without checking the rule that applies to that role.
School nutrition programs
Program roleSchool-nutrition directors, managers, and staff have annual professional-standards hours based on role and work schedule. Food-safety and food-handler requirements may also apply. Summer Food Service Program personnel have additional annual civil-rights and program-integrity training.
Athletic coaches
Coaching assignmentConfirm current first aid and CPR, concussion and head-injury, sudden-cardiac-arrest, heat-illness, and other coach-certification requirements before the season begins.
Facilities, maintenance, security, and workplace hazards
Integrated pest management
Pesticide roleSchool employees and contractors who apply pesticides must complete the required annual school integrated-pest-management training appropriate to the pesticide products they use.
Asbestos awareness
Building-triggeredCustodial and maintenance employees working in a building containing asbestos-containing building material generally need at least two hours of awareness training within 60 days of hire. Employees who may disturb that material need additional training.
Hazard- and equipment-specific safety
Exposure-triggeredDepending on the work, training may be required for heat illness, hearing conservation, respiratory protection, personal protective equipment, ladders, fire extinguishers, hazardous substances, confined spaces, powered equipment, and other Cal/OSHA-regulated hazards.
School security and school police
Security roleSecurity officers and school police have specialized initial and continuing training requirements based on employer, authority, assignment, and POST or school-security standards. Review the exact classification rather than treating all campus-safety positions alike.
Name the source of the obligation
A clean training catalog separates three different kinds of direction. This prevents an LEA from presenting every resource as though it carried the same legal force.
Required by law or regulation
A statute or regulation identifies covered people, content, timing, or documentation. Record the exact authority and trigger.
Required to be made available
The LEA must provide access to a resource, but the cited provision may not require every recipient to complete it.
Required locally
Board policy, administrative regulation, collective bargaining, insurance, job description, or district procedure may add training.
What HR should document
A completion certificate alone does not show that the correct people received the correct training at the correct time.
- The employee group and legal or local trigger
- Hire, assignment, promotion, exposure, and due dates
- Required duration, content, and delivery format
- Provider, course version, and completion evidence
- Paid-time and collective-bargaining considerations
- Renewal cycle and next-due-date calculation
- Alternative or out-of-district completion evidence
- Owner for legal updates and annual catalog review