California child sex abuse law brings justice for survivors, growing financial strain for schools

A California law designed to help survivors of childhood sexual abuse seek justice is now creating difficult financial and legal challenges for school districts across the state. Survivors say the law has exposed abuse that institutions ignored for decades and finally given victims a path to accountability. But school leaders warn the growing costs tied to those lawsuits are increasingly affecting today's students through rising insurance premiums, staffing pressures and cuts to programs and services. CBS News California Investigates found the costs are no longer limited to the districts where abuse allegedly occurred. Because many school districts share insurance coverage through large risk pools, settlements tied to decades-old abuse claims can increase costs for schools across the state, including districts with no abuse claims of their own. That means today's students can lose teachers, programs and classroom resources because of crimes committed years before they were born, sometimes at schools they have never heard of. Survivor says law helped expose abuse hidden for decades For Joelle Casteix, the law is personal and represents long-overdue accountability. Casteix says she was sexually abused by a choir teacher at Mater Dei High School in Orange County in the 1980s. She says school officials knew and failed to protect her. "When I came forward to tell my story, people thought I was crazy," Casteix told CBS News California Investigates. …