Online education: school attendance.

Existing law establishes the public elementary and secondary school system in this state, and further establishes a funding system pursuant to which the state apportions funds to local educational agencies based on the average daily attendance of pupils at the schools operated by those agencies. Numerous statutes and regulations govern the calculation and reporting of average daily attendance. This bill, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, would provide that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that offer online education courses may claim attendance toward average daily attendance on the basis of a pupil's attendance in an online course or courses that satisfy prescribed criteria. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the Controller and the Director of Finance, on or before December 31, 2011, to make revisions to any attendance accounting manual or guidance provided to school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools that are necessary to conform to these provisions, or to clarify these provisions with respect to attendance accounting procedures for asynchronous online courses, as defined. The bill additionally would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Controller and the Director of Finance, to adopt rules and regulations for the purposes of clarifying or expanding the procedures required for verifying the identification of pupils participating in asynchronous online courses and including pupil attendance in asynchronous online education courses in the calculation of average daily attendance. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2016, and repeal them on January 1, 2017.