(a) The compulsory education requirements described in Section 48200 continue to apply for the 2020–21 school year.
(b) A local educational agency shall offer in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible.
(c) For the 2020–21 school year, for purposes of the requirement on school districts to offer 180 instructional days per school year pursuant to Section 46208 and the requirement on charter schools to offer 175 instructional days per school year pursuant to Section 11960 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, an instructional day is a day in which all pupils are scheduled for the length of the day established by the governing board or body of the local educational agency in a classroom under the immediate supervision of a certificated employee or in distance learning that meets the minimum requirements described in this part. For purposes of this section, for charter schools, distance learning shall be provided by a certificated employee pursuant to the requirements of Sections 47605, 47605.4, and 47605.6.
(d) (1) Each local educational agency shall document daily participation for each pupil on each schoolday, in whole or in part, for which distance learning is provided. A pupil who does not participate in distance learning on a schoolday shall be documented as absent for that schoolday.
(2) For purposes of this section, daily participation may include, but is not limited to, evidence of participation in online activities, completion of regular assignments, completion of assessments, and contacts between employees of the local educational agency and pupils or parents or guardians.
(e) Each local educational agency shall ensure that a weekly engagement record is completed for each pupil documenting synchronous or asynchronous instruction for each whole or partial day of distance learning, verifying daily participation, and tracking assignments.
(f) (1) A pupil who does not participate daily in either in-person instruction pursuant to subdivision (b) or distance learning pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be deemed absent by the local educational agency. A local educational agency shall use documentation of the absence for purposes of reporting its chronic absenteeism rates in its local control and accountability plan.
(2) Each local educational agency shall develop written procedures for tiered reengagement strategies for all pupils who are absent from distance learning for more than three schooldays or 60 percent of the instructional days in a school week. These procedures shall include, but are not limited to, verification of current contact information for each enrolled pupil, daily notification to parents or guardians of absences, a plan for outreach from the school to determine pupil needs including connection with health and social services as necessary and, when feasible, transitioning the pupil to full-time in-person instruction.
(g) Each school shall regularly communicate with parents and guardians regarding a pupil’s academic progress.
(h) The Controller shall include instructions necessary to enforce the requirements of this section in the 2020–21 audit guide required by Section 14502.1.
(i) (1) For a school district or charter school that offers fewer than the instructional days required in subdivision (c), the Superintendent shall withhold from the local educational agency’s local control funding formula grant apportionment for the prior year average daily attendance of each affected grade level, the sum of .0056 multiplied by that apportionment for each day less than what was required pursuant to this section.
(2) For a local educational agency that does not meet the requirements in subdivision (d), (e), or (f), the Superintendent shall withhold from the local educational agency’s local control funding formula grant apportionment the percentage of days out of compliance multiplied by the derived value of average daily attendance, all multiplied by the average daily attendance of each affected grade level. For purposes of this paragraph, the percentage of days out of compliance is equivalent to the number of days out of compliance divided by the total number of instructional days required to be offered.
(3) A local educational agency that provides distance learning shall not be penalized for instruction provided before September 1, 2020, that fails to meet the requirements of this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 110, Sec. 16. (SB 820) Effective September 18, 2020. Inoperative June 30, 2021. Repealed as of January 1, 2022, pursuant to Section 43511.)