Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:

Allowance of Electronic Form J-13A Submittals

This letter is to inform you that effective immediately, the California Department of Education (CDE) will accept electronic Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency Conditions, Form J-13A submittals by email at J13ASubmittals@cde.ca.gov. Local educational agencies (LEAs) will no longer be required to mail Form J-13A submittals to CDE and have original “wet” signatures on their affidavit and can instead opt for digital signatures or scanned “wet” signatures. While the PDF Form J-13A request will still need to be completed and submitted to CDE, the allowance of electronic submissions has been adopted in order to streamline the Form J-13A submittal process.

The new J13ASubmittals@cde.ca.gov email box should only be used to submit to CDE Form J-13A requests or to submit additional supporting documentation at the request of CDE. Questions about the Form J-13A submittal or approval process should continue to be directed to attendanceaccounting@cde.ca.gov.

Purpose of the Form J-13A

Education Code (EC) sections 41422 and 46392 allow the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to grant normal apportionment credit to LEAs when they are forced to close schools or when schools remain open but attendance is reduced due to emergency conditions. The Form J-13A is used by LEAs to request approval for attendance and instructional time credit in the event of an emergency that falls within the parameters of EC sections 41422 and 46392. The Form J-13A may also be used to make claims for attendance when attendance records have been lost or destroyed.

Highlights of the Electronic Submittal Process

LEAs seeking to submit their Form J-13A request by email to J13ASubmittals@cde.ca.gov should note the following:

• Both scanned "wet" signatures and digital signatures (e.g. an electronic identifier, created by computer) will now be accepted in accordance with the provisions outlined in Government Code 16.5 at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=16.5&lawCode=GOV.
• To ensure validity, a digital signature must be:
  • Unique to the person using it.
  • Capable of verification.
  • Under the sole control of the person using it.
  • Linked to data in a way that any changes to the data would invalidate the digital signature.
  • Conform to regulations adopted by the Secretary of State.

CDE recommends LEAs use scanned "wet" signatures to ensure the aforementioned conditions are met.

• Instructions included on the Form J-13A (Revised December 2017) (PDF) at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/it/documents/j13a.pdf emphasize the requirement of mailing submissions to the CDE. These instructions, which do not reflect this latest guidance related to electronic submissions, will not be updated at this time.
• There is no change in the documentation required for a Form J-13A submittal. Details on what constitutes a complete Form J-13A request can be found under FAQ #21 on the Frequently Asked Questions Form J-13A web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/it/formj13afaq.asp.
  • Any missing or follow-up documentation requested by CDE should be sent to the J13ASubmittals@cde.ca.gov email address and labeled based on the instructions below.
• The process of the electronic submittal follows the same local approval order as a hardcopy mailed submittal. The process is detailed in the instructions on the Form J-13A (PDF) located at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/it/documents/j13a.pdf.
  • The impacted LEA prepares the documents, submits the completed request to the oversight agency, and the county office of education (COE) sends the completed request to CDE. Details on the submission process can be found under FAQ #20 on the Frequently Asked Questions Form J-13A web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/it/formj13afaq.asp.
• Submissions for both fiscal year (FY) 2023–24 and previous fiscal years may be submitted electronically.

Electronic Submittal File Format Instructions

• LEAs should email the attachments as PDFs. If a PDF is too large to attach, please zip “compress” the file. Instructions for zipping files and attaching to email can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/it/zipfileinstructions.docx.
  • For an electronic submission of a Form J-13A, title the PDF as "LEA name, J13A, FY that the emergency ended" (example: XYZJ13A2023).
  • If an LEA submits multiple requests in a FY, please add a submission number at the end of the title (example: XYZJ13A2023_001 for an LEA’s first Form J-13A submission, XYZJ13A2023_002 for an LEA’s second submission, etc.)
• LEAs will receive an automated email from CDE confirming that the request was received.
• Form J-13A requests submitted electronically should not be mailed to CDE
• Electronic Form J-13A requests should be retained on file for recordkeeping purposes.

LEAs may continue to mail hard copy original Form J-13A submittals to:

School Fiscal Services Division
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 3800
Sacramento, CA 95814

If you have any questions regarding the Form J-13A submittal or approval process, please contact the Principal Apportionment Section by email at attendanceaccounting@cde.ca.gov or by phone at 916-324-4541.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Dearstyne, Director
School Fiscal Services Division

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