- School Business Advisory Services
- J-13A Emergency Waiver
Request for Allowance of Attendance Due to Emergency Conditions (Form J-13A)
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The request for Allowance of Attendance Data Due to Emergency Conditions (Form J-13A) is used to obtain approval of attendance and instructional time credit pursuant to a material decrease (EC 46392), school closure (EC 41422), or lost/destroyed records (EC 46391). This approval, along with other attendance records, serves to document a local educational agency’s (LEA) compliance with instruction time laws and provide authority to maintain school for less than the required instructional days and minutes without incurring a fiscal penalty to the LEA’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) funding.
Information
Independent Study Requirements
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AB 130 modified the requirements for filing J-13A requests when they experience a material decrease in their average daily attendance (ADA) by adding EC 46393. This requires LEAs to include certification in their affidavits that they have a plan to offer independent study, and to include that plan with their affidavit and J-13A waiver request submission to our office.
The plan shall comply with all of the following:
- Applies to any student impacted by a closure of any reason identified in EC 46392 within ten days of a closure, including but not limited to, an epidemic
- Requires reopening in person as soon as possible once allowable by a city or county health officer
- Includes information regarding establishing master agreements in a reasonable amount of time
Please note that plans do not need to comply with new independent study requirements for: 1) live interaction by grade level, 2) synchronous instruction by grade level, 3) tiered reengagement, or 4) transition to in-person instruction within five instructional days upon request.
Submission Procedures
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For each request the LEAs representative will complete the relevant sections of Form J-13A (Sections A-D). The governing board must then approve by completing Section E - Affidavit of School District, County Office of Education, or Charter School Governing Board Members. Please note that Charter Schools must submit their request to their authorizing LEA for approval, who will then forward it to our office for approval.
Once the majority of the governing board members have approved the request, the LEA should make a copy for their records and submit the original to our office. We will review the information submitted, along with supporting documentation, and forward to the California Department of Education (CDE) for approval. The CDE will then notify both our office and the requesting LEA of its approval status once their review is complete.
In the event of closure due to emergency conditions, there is no specific deadline to submit Form J-13A as there is not an immediate impact to LCFF funding. Therefore, there is not an urgent need to file Form J-13A in the midst of the emergency, though we recommend filing as soon as possible thereafter.
