Status of State Pesticide LawsFederal legislation to require safer pest control in schools has been stalled in the
U.S. House of Representatives for several years. Introduced in 1999 and adopted
twice by the Senate, the School Environmental Protection Act requires schools to
adopt less-toxic methods of pest control and notify parents and staff when pesticides
are applied on school grounds. The legislation is the product of years of effort by par-
ent coalitions working to bring safer pest control practices to their schools.
FIFRA currently requires the registration and review of all pesticides produced and
distributed in the United States. But it does not address school applications. The
FQPA of 1996 amended relevant sections of FIFRA but simply defines IPM to
include chemical agents when necessary.
In the absence of a federal mandate, state policies on pesticide use in schools are
widely disparate and provide mixed protections. Texas and Michigan were the first two
states to enact legislation that required schools to follow school IPM pest management
plans. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, thirty-four states have jumped on the
bandwagon, creating a patchwork of different school pest management programs. Ken-
tucky, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island either approved or
enacted their own requirements for IPM in schools. In 2003, even more states consid-
ered school pest management plans. These states included Utah, Indiana, Arizona, and
Illinois, which is expanding its program. Alaska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Washington
state require that schools notify everyone in the school system the beginning of the
school year about the pesticides used at their school. Baits, gels, pastes, and antimicro-
bials are exempt from this notification requirement. Twenty-nine states require that
schools post signs stating that pesticides will be sprayed; these signs must be posted
twenty-four to seventy-two hours before spraying. Sixteen states require notification of
indoor applications. Twenty-six states require postings outdoors. Thirteen states require
more information beyond label requirements. Many states have reentry requirements,
wherein pesticide use is completely prohibited while school is in session. Massachusetts
orders that no pesticides be sprayed in schools without permission. Nineteen states
approved IPM legislation or rules that will require schools to define and submit a writ-
ten pest management plan to a regulatory agency. Many states have voluntary IPM
requirements in schools; these states include California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Mon-
tana, New York, and Utah. Other states have mandatory requirements for IPM in
schools; these states include Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massa-
chusetts, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and West
Virginia. Sixteen states have no laws concerning pesticide use in schools.^27 Eight states
restrict the aerial or large broadcast application of pesticides in areas neighboring
schools. These buffer zones can range from thirty-five feet to 2.5 miles.
Buffer zones around schools could impact spraying initiatives like those to combat
virus-bearing mosquitoes. In an effort to prevent windborne drifting of potentially harmful
chemicals, states such as Alabama, Arizona,Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and
North Carolina limit the use of pesticides within a specified radius of school buildings.126 | Pesticides