(a) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to support local educational agencies in conducting evidence-based activities to address chronic absenteeism and loss of attendance due to emergency events. These activities may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Establishing a community school model, as described in Section 8901.
(B) Implementing activities or programs to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, including, but not limited to, early warning systems or early intervention programs.
(C) Implementing restorative practices, restorative justice models, or other programs to improve retention rates, reduce suspensions and other school removals, and reduce the referral of pupils to law enforcement agencies.
(D) Implementing activities that advance social-emotional learning, positive behavior interventions and supports, culturally responsive practices, and trauma-informed strategies.
(E) Establishing partnerships with community-based organizations or other relevant entities to support the implementation of evidence-based, nonpunitive approaches to further the goals of the program.
(F) Adding or increasing staff within a local educational agency whose primary purpose is to address ongoing chronic attendance problems, including, but not necessarily limited to, conducting outreach to families and children currently, or at risk of becoming, chronically truant.
(2) The Legislature also finds and declares that opportunities for attendance recovery increase pupil access to instructional time and content that otherwise might not be made available to them, and provide local educational agencies with the ability to recover funding dependent upon pupil attendance. It is the intent of the Legislature that local educational agencies implement evidence-based strategies to address absenteeism and leverage innovation to improve pupil attendance and increase instructional time, especially for more vulnerable and high-needs pupil populations.
(3) The Legislature also finds and declares that access to instruction as part of a regular instructional program is the preferred method of learning for pupils, and the availability of attendance recovery should not discourage local educational agencies that regularly experience school closures from maintaining school calendars of greater than 180 days for school districts and 175 days for charters schools to maximize instruction in a regular instructional program.
(b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in implementing attendance recovery programs, local educational agencies maintain the same high expectations for pupils participating in regular instructional programs. It is further the intent of the Legislature that a pupil in an attendance recovery program will receive instruction that aligns with grade-level standards that are substantially equivalent to a pupil’s regular classroom-based instructional program.
(2) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the operation of attendance recovery programs does not negatively impact implementation of expanded learning programs, which are designed to improve pupil engagement and regular schoolday attendance, including before- and after-school programs and intersessional programs operated pursuant to Section 46120 and Article 19 (commencing with Section 8420) of, Article 22.5 (commencing with Section 8482) of, and Article 22.6 (commencing with Section 8484.7) of, Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1. It is the intent of the Legislature that when attendance recovery programs are operated in conjunction with expanded learning programs to achieve fiscal efficiencies, fiscal impacts to expanded learning programs are minimized and pupil access to expanded learning programs are expanded. Local educational agencies are encouraged to offer expanding learning programs to chronically absent pupils as an attendance reengagement strategy.
(Added by Stats. 2024, Ch. 38, Sec. 45. (SB 153) Effective June 29, 2024.)