School operations: 4-day school week.

Existing law, for purposes of attendance counting, defines a school month as 20 days or 4 weeks of 5 days each. Existing law authorizes specified school districts, including, among others, certain school districts in the County of San Diego, to operate one or more schools in their respective school districts on a 4-day school week if the school district complies with specified requirements, including, among other requirements, instructional time requirements and a plan, submitted to the State Department of Education for review and approval, for how the school district will meet those instructional time requirements. This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 school year, additionally authorize the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District to operate one or more schools in the district on a 4-day school week in accordance with those requirements, except that the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District would also be required to (1) include in its plan an annual school calendar with at least 5 additional days of instruction than is otherwise needed to meet the minimum instructional minute requirements in the event that one or more of the schools in the school district is prevented from operating for specified reasons and (2) make a nutritionally adequate breakfast, and a nutritionally adequate lunch, available 5 days per week to any pupil who requests a meal, free of charge, and without consideration of the pupil's eligibility for federally funded free or reduced-price meals. If the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District operates a 4-day school week pursuant to these provisions but subsequently experiences, in a single year, a decline in status in 50% or more of the state indicators used to measure performance that are included in the evaluation rubrics adopted by the State Board of Education, this bill would, commencing with the following school year, prohibit the school district from operating a 4-day school week. The bill also would update a cross reference relating to the applicable minimum instructional minute requirements for the school districts in the County of San Diego operating a 4-day school week. This bill would make these provisions relating to the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Stony Creek Joint Unified School District.