Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and Chief Business Officers:

NOTICE OF RECENT STATUTORY CHANGES TO INDEPENDENT STUDY CONDITIONS OF APPORTIONMENT

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the education omnibus budget trailer bill, Senate Bill (SB) 153, into law on June 29, 2024. The purpose of this letter is to provide local education agencies (LEAs) with an overview of the changes included in SB 153 specific to independent study that may require LEAs to modify local board policies before the start of the 2024–25 school year.

SB 153 made three major changes to independent study:

• The three-day minimum duration for school districts and county offices of education to claim independent study average daily attendance (ADA) has been repealed. LEAs may now claim independent study ADA for any length of duration (Education Code (EC) Section 46300(e)).
• Written agreements for short-term independent study, now defined as 15 or fewer school days, may be signed at any point during the school year. Prior to SB 153, short-term independent study was defined as 14 days or fewer. Long-term independent study is now defined as 16 days or longer, previously 15 days, and written agreements for long-term independent study are still required to be signed prior to the commencement of independent study participation (EC Sections 51747(g)(9)(A) and 51749.6(b)(1)).
• The definitions of eligible evidence of student work products for asynchronous instruction have also been expanded to include work completed on online or computer-based instructional platforms. (EC Section 51747.5(b)(2)(A)(ii)).

LEAs should ensure their board policies and written agreements for fiscal year 2024–25 are compliant with the new EC requirements so that all conditions of apportionment are met. To avoid findings and associated penalties in the annual audit, statutory compliance must be in place before claiming independent study ADA.

In addition to the independent study changes, SB 153 included other attendance accounting and instructional time changes that will impact LEAs. Most of these changes will not become effective in the 2025–26 school year, so LEAs will have more time to prepare and plan for these.

The CDE will host a webinar on August 14, 2024 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm to help orient LEAs to these changes, and review existing guidance on instructional time and attendance accounting. Topics to be covered in the webinar include:

• A general overview of instructional time requirements and the methods for claiming average daily attendance
  • Reminders for serving transitional kindergarten students and claiming apportionment
• Independent study requirements, including recent changes from the 2024–25 Budget Act
• The process an LEA should follow to recapture lost attendance or instructional time credit in the case of an emergency event, known as the Form J-13A, Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency Conditions, submission process
• Additional changes from the 2024–25 Budget Act that are effective for the 2025–26 fiscal year that local educational agencies should begin planning for:
  • Attendance Recovery - a new program to recoup lost attendance for apportionment and chronic absenteeism as an alternative to Saturday school
  • New requirements for instructional continuity to mitigate instructional disruption during an emergency event, and required modifications to the Comprehensive School Safety Plan

LEAs interested in the webinar, please click the following link: 2024–25 Attendance Accounting and Instructional Time Requirements Webinar, August 2024.

If you have any questions, please contact the staff of the Attendance Accounting Office at attendanceaccounting@cde.ca.gov or by phone at 916-324-4541.

Sincerely,

Aaron Heredia, Assistant Director
School Fiscal Services Division

AH:dp