Pupil attendance: excused absences: religious retreats.

Existing law, notwithstanding the requirement that each person between 6 and 18 years of age who is not otherwise exempted is subject to compulsory full-time education, requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences, including, among others, for certain justifiable personal reasons. Existing law includes attendance at a religious retreat among these justifiable personal reasons and prohibits attendance at religious retreats from exceeding 4 hours per semester for purposes of this provision. This bill, for purposes of the above-described provisions, would instead prohibit attendance at religious retreats from exceeding one schoolday per semester. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 48205 of the Education Code proposed by SB 350 to be operative only if this bill and SB 350 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.