Average daily attendance: emergencies: immigration enforcement activity: independent study plans.

Assembly Member Bains frames immigration enforcement activity as a definable emergency that can affect school funding through average daily attendance, pairing this with new requirements for instructional continuity and privacy protections. The core change places immigration enforcement-related attendance losses under the same emergency framework used to adjust state apportionments, but with a cap of ten days of missed attendance per pupil for such actions. The overall approach to ADA calculations remains, in substance, to credit the attendance that would have occurred if the emergency had not disrupted school operations, subject to the 10-day limit for immigration enforcement activity.

Mechanisms accompanying this change require districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to file affidavits detailing emergencies and to certify independent study plans for affected pupils. For events occurring after September 1, 2021 and through June 30, 2026, the affidavit must confirm an independent study plan that meets specified requirements, including offering independent study within ten instructional days of the first day of school closure or material attendance decrease. For immigration enforcement events occurring between January 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, the plan must either require live interaction or synchronous instruction, or explain extenuating circumstances preventing such instruction and describe the pupil-engagement and instructional services to be provided during or after the closure. Public records relating to immigration enforcement activity submitted for these purposes would be exempt from the California Public Records Act, with legislative findings supporting that privacy protection. The provisions are designed as temporary, with operative status through mid-2029 and repeal in early 2030.

The proposal envisions ongoing General Fund funding to support these ADA adjustments and related independent-study requirements, with allocation mechanics that can include preliminary distributions followed by final allocations after standard principal apportionment milestones. It preserves existing references to related funding formulas and independent-study authorities while adding a sunset framework and privacy protections. In context, the measure aims to formalize preparedness for instructional continuity during emergencies, including those tied to immigration enforcement, while balancing transparency with pupil and family privacy and outlining roles for districts, state elected leaders, and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction in implementing and overseeing the changes.