AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 9, 2026
SENATE BILL No. 959
Introduced by Senator Grayson
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cortese, Gonzalez, McNerney, Menjivar, Reyes, Wahab, and Weber Pierson)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Wicks)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Schultz and Wicks)
February 3, 2026
An act to amend Section 46392 of the Education Code, relating to education finance, and declaring the ur gency thereof, to tak e effect immediately.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 959, as amended, Grayson. Average daily attendance:
emergencies: major safety hazard.
For purposes of state apportionments based on a verage daily attendance, as pro vided, if the a verage daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified emer gency, including, among others, the imminence of a major safety hazard as determined by a local la w enforcement agenc y, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the a verage daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school approximately the total a verage daily attendance that would have been credited to the school district, county office of education, or charter school had the emergency not occurred.
98 This bill, for the above-described purposes, would additionally allow a local fire agency to make a determination of the imminence of a major safety hazard.
This bill w ould declare that it is to tak e effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 46392 of the Education Code is amended line 2 to read:
line 3 46392. (a) If the average daily attendance of a school district, line 4 county office of education, or charter school during a fiscal year line 5 has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of any line 6 of the following, the fact shall be established to the satisfaction of line 7 the Superintendent by affidavits of the members of the governing line 8 board or body of the school district, county office of education, or line 9 charter school and the county superintendent of schools:
line 10 (1) Fire.
line 11 (2) Flood.
line 12 (3) Impassable roads.
line 13 (4) Epidemic.
line 14 (5) Earthquake.
line 15 (6) The imminence of a major safety hazard as determined by line 16 the local law enforcement or fire agency.
line 17 (7) A strike involving transportation services to pupils provided line 18 by a nonschool entity.
line 19 (8) An order provided for in Section 41422.
line 20 (9) Snowstorm.
line 21 (b) (1) In the e vent a state of emer gency is declared by the line 22 Governor in a county , a decrease in a verage daily attendance in line 23 the county below the approximate total average daily attendance line 24 that would have been credited to a school district, county office line 25 of education, or charter school had the state of emer gency not line 26 occurred shall be deemed material. The Superintendent shall line 27 determine the length of the period during which a verage daily line 28 attendance has been reduced by the state of emergency. line 29 (2) The period determined by the Superintendent shall not extend line 30 into the next fiscal year follo wing the declaration of the state of 98 — 2 — SB 959
line 1 emergency by the Governor, except upon a showing by a school line 2 district, county office of education, or charter school, to the line 3 satisfaction of the Superintendent, that e xtending the period into line 4 the next fiscal year is essential to alle viate continued reductions line 5 in average daily attendance attributable to the state of emergency. line 6 (3) Notwithstanding an y other la w, the Superintendent shall line 7 extend through the 2018–19 fiscal year the period during which it line 8 is essential to alle viate continued reductions in a verage daily line 9 attendance attributable to a state of emer gency declared by the line 10 Governor in October 2017, for a school district where no less than line 11 5 percent of the residences within the school district or school line 12 district facilities were destroyed by the qualifying emergency. line 13 (c) (1) The a verage daily attendance of the school district, line 14 county office of education, or charter school for the fiscal year line 15 shall be estimated by the Superintendent in a manner that credits line 16 to the school district, county office of education, or charter school line 17 for determining the apportionments to be made to the school line 18 district, county office of education, or charter school from the State line 19 School Fund approximately the total average daily attendance that line 20 would have been credited to the school district, county office of line 21 education, or charter school had the emer gency not occurred or line 22 had the order not been issued.
line 23 (2) (A) From September 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, inclusi ve, line 24 with the exception of a material loss of attendance for pupils who line 25 are individuals with exceptional needs, as that term is defined in line 26 Section 56026, whose individualized education program developed line 27 pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 56340) of Chapter line 28 4 of P art 30 does not specifically pro vide for participation in line 29 independent study or pupils who are enrolled in community day line 30 schools pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 48660) line 31 of Chapter 4 of P art 27, a school district, county office of line 32 education, or charter school shall not recei ve a verage daily line 33 attendance credit pursuant to this section for pupils that have been line 34 quarantined and are unable to attend in-person instruction due to line 35 exposure to, or infection with, COVID-19 pursuant to local or state line 36 public health guidance.
line 37 (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), from September 1, 2021, line 38 to June 30, 2022, inclusi ve, a school district, county office of line 39 education, or charter school may receive average daily attendance line 40 credit pursuant to this section for school closures related to impacts 98 SB 959 — 3 —
line 1 from COVID-19 or material loss of attendance due to COVID-19 line 2 related staffing shortages if the following conditions are established line 3 to the satisf action of the Superintendent by affida vits of the line 4 members of the go verning board or body of the school district, line 5 county office of education, or charter school and the county line 6 superintendent of schools:
line 7 (i) The school district, county office of education, or charter line 8 school is unable to provide in person instruction to pupils due to line 9 staffing shortages as a result of staf f quarantine due to e xposure line 10 to, or infection with, COVID-19 pursuant to local or state public line 11 health guidance.
line 12 (ii) For certificated staff shortages, the school district, county line 13 office of education, or charter school has exhausted all options for line 14 obtaining staff coverage, including using all certificated staff and line 15 substitute teacher options, and has consulted with their county line 16 office of education and the Superintendent in determining that line 17 staffing needs cannot be met through any option. line 18 (iii) For classified staf f shortages, the school district, county line 19 office of education, or charter school has exhausted all options for line 20 obtaining staff coverage, including using all staff options, and has line 21 consulted with their county office of education and the line 22 Superintendent in determining that staffing needs cannot be met line 23 through any option.
line 24 (d) Notwithstanding any other law, for a school district or charter line 25 school physically located within a school district, where no less line 26 than 5 percent of the residences within the school district, or the line 27 school district’s facilities, were destroyed as a result of a state of line 28 emergency that was declared by the Governor in November 2018, line 29 all of the following shall apply:
line 30 (1) (A) In the 2020–21 fiscal year , for school districts, the line 31 Superintendent shall calculate the dif ference between the school line 32 district’s certified second principal apportionment local control line 33 funding formula entitlement pursuant to Section 42238.02 in the line 34 2020–21 fiscal year and the 2019–20 fiscal year and, if there is a line 35 difference, allocate the amount of that dif ference to the school line 36 district.
line 37 (B) In the 2021–22 fiscal year , for school districts, the line 38 Superintendent shall allocate an amount equal to 25 percent of the line 39 difference calculated in subparagraph (A) to the school district. 98 — 4 — SB 959
line 1 (C) In the 2022–23 fiscal year , for school districts, the line 2 Superintendent shall allocate an amount equal to 12.5 percent of line 3 the difference calculated in subparagraph (A) to the school district. line 4 (2) (A) In the 2019–20 and 2020–21 fiscal years, for charter line 5 schools, the Superintendent shall calculate the difference between line 6 the charter school’s certified second principal apportionment local line 7 control funding formula entitlement pursuant to 42238.02 in the line 8 current year and each respecti ve prior year and, if there is a line 9 difference, allocate the amount of that dif ference to the charter line 10 school.
line 11 (B) In the 2021–22 fiscal year, for charter schools that operate line 12 a minimum of 175 school days and report at least 75 percent of line 13 the total second period average daily attendance for the 2019–20 line 14 fiscal year, as described in Section 41601, the Superintendent shall line 15 allocate 25 percent of the dif ference calculated in subparagraph line 16 (A) to the charter school.
line 17 (3) For a county office of education funded pursuant to line 18 paragraph (1) of subdi vision (g) of Section 2575 that has within line 19 the boundaries of the county school districts or charter schools line 20 affected pursuant to this subdi vision and that has in the schools line 21 operated by the county office of education at least a 10-percent line 22 decrease in average daily attendance in the current fiscal year, in line 23 the 2019–20 and 2020–21 fiscal years, the Superintendent shall line 24 calculate the difference between the county office of education’s line 25 alternative education grant entitlement certified at the annual line 26 principal apportionment pursuant to Section 2574 in the current line 27 fiscal year and each respecti ve prior fiscal year and, if there is a line 28 difference, allocate the amount of that dif ference to the county line 29 office of education.
line 30 (4) A school district may transfer funds recei ved pursuant to line 31 paragraph (1) to the county office of education for the portion of line 32 the funds that represents pupils serv ed by the county office of line 33 education who are funded through the school district’s local control line 34 funding formula apportionment pursuant to Section 2576. line 35 (5) In each fiscal year , the allocations made pursuant to this line 36 subdivision shall be made to school districts and charter schools line 37 by the Superintendent as soon as practicable after the second line 38 principal apportionment and to county offices of education as soon line 39 as practicable after the annual principal apportionment. The line 40 allocations made shall be final. The Superintendent may provide 98 SB 959 — 5 —
line 1 a preliminary allocation of up to 50 percent no sooner than the line 2 first principal apportionment.
line 3 (6) (A) The amounts described in this subdi vision shall be line 4 continuously appropriated from the General Fund to the line 5 Superintendent for these purposes.
line 6 (B) For purposes of making the computations required by line 7 Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the line 8 appropriation made by this subdi vision shall be deemed to be line 9 “General Fund re venues appropriated for school districts, ” as line 10 defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202, for the fiscal year in line 11 which the y are appropriated, and included within the “total line 12 allocations to school districts and community college districts from line 13 General Fund proceeds of tax es appropriated pursuant to Article line 14 XIII B,” as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202. line 15 (e) Notwithstanding any other law, for a school district or charter line 16 school physically located within a school district, where no less line 17 than 5 percent of the residences within the school district, or the line 18 school district’s facilities, were destroyed as a result of a state of line 19 emergency that was declared by the Governor in September 2020, line 20 all of the following shall apply:
line 21 (1) For the 2021–22 fiscal year , for school districts, the line 22 Superintendent shall calculate the dif ference between the school line 23 district’s certified annual principal apportionment local control line 24 funding formula re venues pursuant to Section 42238.02 in the line 25 2021–22 fiscal year and the 2019–20 fiscal year , including local line 26 revenue, pursuant to subdivision (j) of Section 42238.02, and any line 27 additional funds recei ved pursuant to subdi vision (e) of Section line 28 42238.03 in excess of the entitlement calculated pursuant to Section line 29 42238.02 and 42238.03 and, if there is a dif ference, allocate the line 30 amount of that difference to the school district. line 31 (2) For the 2021–22 fiscal year, for charter schools that operate line 32 a minimum of 175 school days and report at least 75 percent of line 33 the total second period average daily attendance for the 2019–20 line 34 fiscal year, as described in Section 41601, the Superintendent shall line 35 calculate the dif ference between the charter school’ s certified line 36 second principal apportionment local control funding formula line 37 revenues pursuant to Section 42238.02 in the 2021–22 fiscal year line 38 and the 2019–20 fiscal year, and, if there is a difference, allocate line 39 the amount of that difference to the charter school. 98 — 6 — SB 959
line 1 (3) School districts and charter schools shall notify the line 2 Superintendent of their eligibility pursuant to this subdivision by line 3 November 1, 2021, in the manner prescribed by the Superintendent. line 4 (4) Preliminary allocations made pursuant to paragraph (1) shall line 5 be made to school districts by the Superintendent through the line 6 principal apportionment be ginning with the 2021–22 fiscal year line 7 first principal apportionment certification and shall be made final line 8 as of the annual principal apportionment.
line 9 (5) Allocations made pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be made line 10 to charter schools by the Superintendent as soon as practicable line 11 after the second principal apportionment and shall be made final line 12 as of the annual principal apportionment. The Superintendent may line 13 provide a preliminary allocation of up to 50 percent no sooner than line 14 the first principal apportionment.
line 15 (f) Notwithstanding any other law, for a school district where line 16 a school eligible for funding pursuant to Article 4 (commencing line 17 with Section 42280) of Chapter 7 of P art 24 of Di vision 3 w as line 18 destroyed as a result of a state of emergency that was declared by line 19 the Governor in August 2021, the following shall apply:
line 20 (1) The school district may continue to report the amount of line 21 attendance generated by pupils enrolled in another school of the line 22 school district that w ould have otherwise attended the destro yed line 23 school, and the number of full-time teachers emplo yed by the line 24 school district that w ould have otherwise pro vided instructional line 25 services at the school, as if the school were operational in the line 26 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 fiscal years.
line 27 (2) The school shall be considered a necessary small school for line 28 the purpose of Section 42282 in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 fiscal line 29 years.
line 30 (g) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, paragraphs (2) and (3) line 31 shall apply for the follo wing charter schools identified in line 32 subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) that were damaged, destro yed, or line 33 directly impacted, as a result of a state of emer gency that w as line 34 declared by the Governor in January 2025:
line 35 (A) Marquez Charter , P alisades Charter Elementary , and line 36 Palisades Charter High within the Los Angeles Unified School line 37 District.
line 38 (B) Aveson Global Leadership Academy, Aveson School of line 39 Leaders, Odyssey Charter, OCS - South, and P asadena Rosebud line 40 Academy in the Pasadena Unified School District. 98 SB 959 — 7 —
line 1 (C) Alma Fuerte Public in the City of Pasadena. line 2 (2) For the 2025–26 fiscal year , for charter schools identified line 3 in paragraph (1) that operate a minimum of 175 school days, as line 4 described in Section 41601, the Superintendent shall calculate the line 5 difference between the charter school’ s certified local control line 6 funding formula entitlement pursuant to Section 42238.02 as of line 7 the annual principal apportionment in the 2025–26 fiscal year and line 8 the first principal apportionment in the 2024–25 fiscal year , and, line 9 if there is a dif ference, allocate the amount of that dif ference to line 10 the charter school.
line 11 (3) Allocations made pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be made line 12 final as of the annual principal apportionment. The Superintendent line 13 may pro vide a preliminary allocation no sooner than the first line 14 principal apportionment.
line 15 (h) This section applies to an y average daily attendance that line 16 occurs during any part of a school year.
line 17 SEC. 2. This act is an ur gency statute necessary for the line 18 immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within line 19 the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall line 20 go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
line 21 Due to the eminent danger of wildfires throughout the state and line 22 the need to address the safety of pupils on campuses in high line 23 wildfire danger areas, it is necessary for this act to tak e effect line 24 immediately.
O
98 — 8 — SB 959