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Committee advances measure to standardize attendance rules, allow land-trust spending to address absenteeism
Summary
SB 58 seeks to standardize attendance definitions for traditional and learner-validated programs, require LEA policies for learner-validated attendance, and permit (not require) school community councils to use land-trust funds to address chronic absenteeism; the committee approved the bill 3–1.
Senate Bill 58, presented as a response to an internal audit of local attendance policies, would standardize definitions of attendance across different program types, require local education agencies to adopt policies for learner-validated programs, and permit community councils to use land-trust funds to combat chronic absenteeism.
Sponsor Senator Fillmore said the differences between traditional, attendance-validated programs and learner-validated programs (competency-based or self-paced learning) create inconsistent attendance measures and reporting. The bill defines attendance categories and requires LEAs to adopt written policies to determine what counts as participation in learner-validated programs.
Committee members asked whether the bill could allow programs to claim Average Daily Membership (ADM) for students who do not achieve proficiency under a learner-validated model. Charter-school representatives said the proposal largely follows existing rule (R277-419) and would not create new, permissive ADM rules. Advocates and district officials described the changes as codifying and clarifying practice for virtual and competency-based programs.
The committee adopted an amendment making use of land-trust money permissive ("may" rather than "shall") and voted to recommend SB 58 to the full Senate 3–1 with one opposed. Sponsors invited feedback on technical definitions and LEA policies for learner-validated attendance.
