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For Immediate Release
July 9, 2009

Contact:

Regina Wilson
916-319-0693

Ted Mitchell responds to the action taken by the State Board of Education to deny the Chino Valley Unified School District Waiver Request

The State Board of Education voted today to deny the request for the Rolling Ridge and Doris Dickson Elementary Schools because this was not the typical waiver process and the request did not ensure that students will actually receive the lost instructional time.

“Like every district, Chino Valley Unified School District is required to offer a minimum number of instructional minutes per day to its students. Due to early release times by principals at two Chino Valley schools, the district owes students 34 instructional days. While the board recognizes the effort the district attempted to make up some of these days, the Board concluded that not enough students participated to constitute even a partial remedy”. While rejecting the district’s waiver request, the SBE's action today will still allow Chino Valley School District to use the existing options which will ensure these students receive the instructional time they missed. “Frankly, the SBE isn’t interested in seeing the district pay the financial penalty, we just want to ensure that students get all of the instructional time they need and deserve and that the district was paid to provide.”

Background

The State Board has previously waived the legal definition of a school year, allowing districts to begin a school year prior to July 1 or end a school year after June 30. These types of waivers were typically granted for districts with multi-track, year round schools.

Although the SBE did not grant this waiver to Chino Valley Unified School District there are number of the options in which the district can remedy shortages in instructional time.

1. Seek the traditional waiver from the board under EC 46206 in which the financial penalty is waived in exchange for providing the amount of instructional time lost in addition to the regular school program for two subsequent years.
2. Submit an appeal of an audit finding to the Education Audit Appeals Panel (EAAP), which has the flexibility to not only waive the penalty in exchange for additional instructional time, but the EAAP can also negotiate on the amount of additional instructional time that they will provide.
3. Seek legislative relief from the penalty. Chino Valley is already engaged in this process and has a bill carried by Assemblymember Hagman (ABX3 35).

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