School Attendance

[EAS 42-719] 

Background

All children in an AU for whom school attendance is required (ages 6 through 17) must regularly attend school as defined by the school district. The school attendance requirement applies to the any other child who is in the AU, whether or not the needs of that child are met.

Effective January 1, 2015, a child will be presumed to be attending school unless he or she has been deemed a chronic truant.

The cash aid must be reduced (a penalty applied) if a child aged 16 through 17 (under 18) years of age has been deemed a chronic truant and does not meet any of the exception criteria.

Note: If an 18 year old child who is expected to graduate before their 19th birthday is not regularly attending school, he/she is not eligible for CalWORKs.

This requirement does not apply to children who are subject to Cal-Learn requirements (a pregnant or parenting teen).

Definitions

The following definitions are used in this section:

Chronic Truant: For CalWORKs purposes, any student age 16 through 17 years of age subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without a valid excuse for 10 percent or more of the school days in one school year, from the date of enrollment to the current date, is deemed a chronic truant.

Regular School Attendance: For CalWORKs purposes, regular school attendance is defined by the local school districts. Generally, this means the child is attending 90% or more of the time.

School Attendance Review Board (SARB): The SARB is the group of individuals who will determine if a student has failed to attend school regularly and the intervention methods have failed to secure the child’s regular attendance.

Verification of Enrollment

Effective January 1, 2015, verification of school enrollment for CalWORKs children is no longer required at application and at the annual CalWORKs redetermination.