Code Section

46211.  

(a) Beginning July 1, 2025, to address the educational and fiscal impacts of pupil absences, a local educational agency may implement attendance recovery programs for pupils to make up lost instructional time and offset absences, including reducing chronic absenteeism.

(b) (1) An attendance recovery program implemented pursuant to this article may be operated before or after school, on weekends, or during intersessional periods. Local educational agencies that operate attendance recovery programs shall offer access to attendance recovery programs throughout the school year, including, at least once during each term, such as each trimester or quarter. Average daily attendance generated through an attendance recovery program shall be credited to the school year in which the attendance recovery program is operated and the local educational agency in which the pupil is enrolled.

(2) Instructional time included for the purposes of generating average daily attendance pursuant to this section shall not be included within the instructional time used to meet the annual day and minute requirements pursuant to Sections 46207, 46208, 47612, and 47612.5 of this code, and Section 11960 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, as applicable.

(c) Participation in an attendance recovery program shall not be compulsory or punitive for pupils. Pupils concurrently participating in both an attendance recovery program and an expanded learning opportunities program pursuant to Section 46120 shall retain their ability to participate in the entirety of an expanded learning opportunities program’s offerings pursuant to Section 46120 for the duration of the school year.

(d) (1) For participation in an attendance recovery program, a pupil shall not be credited with more than the lesser of the equivalent of 10 days of attendance in a school year, or the number of absences the pupil accrued in that school year. For purposes of meeting all of the requirements of this section, an individual pupil shall not be credited with more than one day of attendance for any calendar day of participation in an attendance recovery program.

(2) A pupil shall not be credited with more than five days of attendance per school week for school districts or county offices of education, or more than one day of attendance in a calendar day when school is actually taught pursuant to Section 47612 of this code and Section 11960 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations for charter schools.

(3) Attendance accrued through participation in an attendance recovery program shall be tracked and reported to the department by local educational agencies separately from average daily attendance generated during the schoolday in classroom-based programs.

(4) When reporting attendance accrued through participation in an attendance recovery program to the department pursuant to Sections 60900 and 60901, consistent with paragraph (3), the attendance shall be reported separately from those days of attendance not accrued through participation in an attendance recovery program. The department shall also separately report days accrued through attendance recovery programs on its internet website.

(e) (1) Notwithstanding Sections 46112, 46113, 46114, 46117, 46141, 46142, 46146, 46148, 46146.5, 46170, 46180, 48645.3, and 48663, pupils participating in an attendance recovery program operating pursuant to this section may generate average daily attendance. Average daily attendance generated through a pupil’s participation in an attendance recovery program may be accumulated in increments of one hour, as documented by the teacher of each attendance recovery classroom described in subdivision (g) and maintained by the local educational agency. A pupil shall only be credited with not less than a full day of attendance in an attendance recovery program, and only once the amount of time that a pupil participates in an attendance recovery program meets the applicable minimum daily minutes requirements pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 46110) and Article 3 (commencing with Section 46140), including the minimum schoolday for a pupil with an individualized education program pursuant to Section 46307, up to the limits established in subdivision (d).

(2) (A) For the purposes of computing average daily attendance for purposes of this article, the minimum daily instructional minute requirements pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 46110) and Article 3 (commencing with Section 46140) apply to all local educational agencies, including charter schools.

(B) Charter schools shall comply with the minimum daily instructional minute requirements for the applicable grade span pursuant to Sections 46112, 46113, 46114, 46117, 46141, and 46142.

(f) As a condition of generating average daily attendance, an attendance recovery program shall be composed of pupils engaged in educational activities and content aligned to grade level standards that are substantially equivalent to the pupils’ regular instructional program, which may include one-on-one or small group tutoring, and shall be under the immediate supervision and control of a certificated teacher who is also an employee of the local educational agency and who possesses a valid certification document, registered as required by law, pursuant to Sections 46300 and 47612.5. An attendance recovery program shall not exceed a pupil-to-certificated teacher ratio of 10 to 1 for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten or 20 to 1 for grades 1 to 12, inclusive. A local educational agency shall maintain documentation demonstrating how the attendance recovery program met the applicable ratios required pursuant to this subdivision.

(g) (1) An attendance recovery program shall be provided only as a limited-term option for a classroom-based, regular educational program for pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Pupils otherwise enrolled in a nonclassroom-based program, including pupils served by a nonclassroom-based charter school pursuant to Section 47612.5, shall not participate in an attendance recovery program and a local educational agency shall not generate apportionment through an attendance recovery program for pupils enrolled in a nonclassroom-based program.

(2) (A) For school districts, a pupil is enrolled in a nonclassroom-based program for purposes of this subdivision if the pupil meets the minimum day requirements for independent study and is continually enrolled in independent study for more than 15 schooldays in a school year.

(B) For charter schools, a pupil is enrolled in a nonclassroom-based program for purposes of this subdivision if the pupil is continually enrolled in independent study for more than 15 schooldays on any of the days on which school is taught for the purpose of meeting the requirement to offer 175 instructional days, as described in Section 11960 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations.

(3) A charter school that serves pupils pursuant to Section 47612.1 shall not participate in an attendance recovery program operated pursuant to this section.

(h) On or before June 30, 2025, the department shall develop and maintain on its internet website guidance to support local educational agencies in creating and implementing high-quality attendance recovery programs.

(i) (1) In consultation with the executive director of the state board, the department shall research local pupil information systems to identify opportunities for local educational agencies to collect and report to the state more nuanced data about the reasons for pupil absences.

(2) At a minimum, the department shall investigate opportunities to use and improve existing pupil information systems to more accurately track pupil absences and their reasons, including, but not limited to, those absences caused by each of the following:

(A) School closures due to emergencies pursuant to Section 41422.

(B) Schooldays of materially decreased attendance due to emergencies pursuant to Section 46392.

(C) Pupil absences due to emergencies pursuant to Section 46392, or any other personal or large-scale emergencies.

(3) The department shall use the research collected pursuant to this subdivision to develop recommendations to amend existing laws, regulations, guidance, and processes to collect, aggregate, and disaggregate absenteeism data from local educational agencies to provide additional clarity on the causes of pupil absenteeism across the state, including by pupil subgroup. These recommendations shall include steps to calculate an adjusted chronic absenteeism rate that does not include absences due to emergencies pursuant to Section 46392.

(4) On or before January 1, 2026, the department shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the chairs of the budget committees of both houses of the Legislature, the Superintendent, the executive director of the state board, and the Director of Finance.

(j) Commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year Guide for Annual Audits of K–12 Local Education Agencies and State Compliance Reporting, the Controller shall incorporate verification of compliance with the requirements specified in subdivisions (d) to (g), inclusive, including loss of apportionment for an attendance recovery program pursuant to this article for local educational agencies found to be noncompliant.

(k) For purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.

(2) “School year” has the same meaning as described in Section 37200.