| TO: | Honorable Florence Shapiro, Chair, Senate Committee on Education |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2455 by Cook, Byron (Relating to the absence of a student from public school for a required court appearance.), As Engrossed |
The bill would expand the definition of excused absences to include absence for the purpose of attending a required court appearance, including travel for that purpose. The current law definition of an excused absence for observation of religious holy days would also be expanded to include travel for the purpose of observing religious holy days. Students whose absences for the expanded purposes are excused would be counted as if in attendance for the purpose of calculating average daily attendance (ADA).
Student absence data is not reported by reason for absence, so the actual actual number of additional days that would be counted as attendance for ADA purposes under the bill is not readily available. However, the absences addressed under the bill are assumed currently to represent a relatively small proportion of the total absences; as a result, the effect of the additional days counted as attendance would not be anticipated to significantly affect state cost under the Foundation School Program.
| Source Agencies: | 701 Central Education Agency
|
| LBB Staff: | JOB, UP, JSp
|