Summer School Meal Waivers
Effective January 1, 2006, public schools must meet one out of three new conditions, established by Assembly Bill 1392 (Umberg), in order to receive approval to waive the requirement to provide a meal during summer school sessions as specified in EC Section 49550.
Additionally, summer meal waiver requests must now be received by the California Department of Education (CDE), Waiver Office, no later than 30 days prior to the last regular meeting of the State Board of Education (SBE) before the commencement of the summer school session for which the waiver is sought. This deadline will ensure timely processing of waiver requests for summer school sessions and, in the case of a denial, will permit the district/county sufficient time to plan for summer meal preparation. This year, the only SBE meeting dates before June 2012 are March 7 – 8, 2012, and May 9 – 10, 2012. Therefore, please have your completed waiver into the waiver office by February 10, 2012 or April 13, 2012 at the latest.
- Waiver Form for Summer School Meal Waiver and Site Information Form (Updated 11-Jan-12; DOC; 90KB; 2pp.)
- Condition One Form (Updated 24 -Apr-09; DOC; 43KB; 1p.)
- Condition Two Form Cost Analysis Worksheet (Updated 02-Feb-12; XLS; 63 KB; 3pp.)
- NSLP CRE Net Cash Resources form (Updated 13-Jan-1; DOC; 62 KB; 1p.)
Excerpted from Management Bulletin 06-103:
Summer School Meal Waivers– New Conditions
School sites operating a summer school session may be granted a waiver if they meet one of the following new conditions:
Condition One - Summer School Meal Waiver
Elementary schools shall be granted a waiver if a Summer Food Service Program for Children (SFSP) site is available within one-half mile of the school site. Middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools shall be granted a waiver if a SFSP site is available within one mile of the school site. Additionally, one of the following conditions must exist:
- The hours of operation of the SFSP site commence no later than one-half hour after the completion of the summer school session day.
- The hours of operation of the SFSP site conclude no earlier than one hour after the completion of the summer school session day.
- For purposes of this section of law, “elementary school” means a public school that maintains kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8 inclusive.
Condition Two - Summer School Meal Waiver
- Serving meals during the summer school session would result in a financial loss to the school district, documented in a financial analysis performed by the school district, in an amount equal to one-third of the net cash resources as defined in Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 210.2, which, for purposes of this section of law, shall exclude funds that are encumbered. If there are no net cash resources, the financial loss must be equal to the operating costs of one month as averaged over the summer school sessions.
NOTE: The financial analysis must include a projection of future meal program participation based on either of the following:
- The meal service period beginning after the commencement of the summer school session day and concluding before the completion of the summer school session day. In other words, districts must project profit or loss based on serving a breakfast or a lunch during school hours and not before or after the school day.
- The school site operating as an open Summer Seamless Option or a SFSP site, and providing adequate notification thereof, including flyers and banners, in order to fulfill community needs under the SFSP.
A school district must complete the Specific Waiver Request –Summer School Meal Waiver documents and return the information to the address on the form. Additional copies are available at the Waiver Forms page: Waiver Forms
Information on Local Waivers of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) for Students with Disabilities who use modifications to pass the exam:
California Education Code 60851 (c) provides that at the parent or guardian's request, a school principal shall submit a request for a waiver of the requirement to successfully pass the high school exit examination to the governing board of the school district for a pupil with a disability. The student must have taken the high school exit examination with modifications that alter what the test measures and have received the equivalent of a passing score (on one or both subject matter parts of the high school exit examination).
A governing board of a school district may waive the requirement to successfully pass one or both subject matter parts of the high school exit examination for a pupil with a disability if the principal certifies to the governing board of the school district that the pupil has all of the following:
- An individualized education program (IEP) adopted pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) or a plan adopted pursuant to Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794(a)) in place that requires the accommodations or modifications to be provided to the pupil when taking the high school exit examination.
- Sufficient high school level coursework either satisfactorily completed or in progress in a high school level curriculum sufficient to have attained the skills and knowledge otherwise needed to pass the high school exit examination.
- An individual score report for the pupil showing that the pupil has received the equivalent of a passing score on the high school exit examination while using a modification that fundamentally alters what the high school exit examination measures as determined by the State Board of Education.
Charter Schools - Chartering district must request General Waivers on your behalf:
California Education Code (EC) Section 33054 used to allow charter schools to submit a general waiver request on their own behalf. However, effective January 7, 2007, that section of the EC was repealed.
This means that a charter school can no longer submit a general waiver request on its own behalf. Charter schools must have their chartering district submit the waiver request for the charter school. The general waiver request form is available at the Waiver Forms page.
A charter school may continue to directly submit only federal waivers of the Carl Perkins Act (DOC; 10KB; 1p.), and a Specific Waiver of Instruction Time Penalties (DOC; 10KB; 1p.) on their behalf.
Information and Forms for Attendance Accounting and Multi-Track Calendar Waivers for Charter Schools:
Essentially, if a governing board of a COE, a district or a charter school elect to modify their calendar to be up to 5 days less that the normal requirements (180 days for COE and districts, 175 days for charters), there will be no instructional time penalties assessed for those days and proportionate number of minutes reduced.
If a local educational agency (LEA) is able to then negotiate an equivalent reduced calendar for staff, then this is one way LEA’s can provide some budget savings. As stated in the second sentence of the above section, the revenue limit LEA’s will receive is already reduced, so this is one way to help absorb that reduction.
Use of these flexible days can also be a way to build in “extra” days or minutes required to receive a waiver of a previous years instructional time penalties. Please call the Waiver Office at (916) 319-0824, if this is something your LEA is interested in doing.
Information on the Change to the Equity Length of Time Requirement:
Effective January 1, 2005, California Education Code (EC) Section 37202 was revised to allow school districts to offer extended day kindergarten programs at some but not all of the schools in the district without a general waiver of EC 37202. School districts offering extended day kindergarten must have their school boards adopt the Early Primary Program prescribed in EC sections 8970-8974 for implementation as EC 46111 (the four hour per day limit for kindergarteners) still exists in the EC. The law was revised as follows:
37202 (a) Except if a school has been closed by order of a city or a county board of health, or of the State Board of Health, on account of contagious disease, or if the school has been closed on account of fire, flood, or other public disaster, the governing board of a school district shall maintain all of the elementary day schools established by it for an equal length of time during the school year and all of the day high schools established by it for an equal length of time during the school year.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a school district that is implementing an early primary program, pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8970) of Part 6, may maintain kindergarten classes at different school sites within the district for different lengths of time during the school day.
Waivers of the equity length of time requirement are still required if a district does not provide an equal amount of time to all students in the district in grade levels first through twelfth.
Information on the Revised Waiver Policy on Physical Education (PE) Requirements for Block Schedules:
On July 13, 2006, the State Board of Education approved this revised waiver policy (DOC; 20KB; 3pp.). This policy establishes criteria to be used for evaluation of waiver requests from local educational agencies seeking flexibility in the physical education requirements (EC 51222) to accommodate block scheduling. The criteria to be used by CDE staff in analyzing high school and middle schools scheduling changes in these types of waivers are identified. Please contact Jim Greco, Education Administrator, at 916-323-6189, for help on additional documents to complete a waiver request.
School Site Council Waivers:
Site Council Waiver Shared Revised (2-Oct-09; DOC; 86KB; 2pp.)
Shared Schoolsite Council Waiver Policy (DOC; 80KB; 2pp.)
Site Council Waiver Composition Revised (2-Oct-09; DOC; 84KB; 2pp.)
Information on the State Testing Apportionment Information Report Waiver Request:
State Testing Apportionment Information Report Waiver (Revised 24-Apr-09; DOC; 58KB; 1p.)
If your signed apportionment has not been submitted by December 31st for one of the assessments noted above, your district can submit a waiver request as indicated on the form. The Apportionment Information Report should be sent to the address noted on the individual apportionment report. However, payment by CDE will not be made until after the SBE approves your waiver request.
If you have questions regarding STAR Apportionment Information Report, please contact Mei Tan in the Standardized Testing and Reporting Office, at 916-319-0346 or by e-mail at mtan@cde.ca.gov. If you have questions regarding the CAHSEE Apportionment Information Report, please call Gayle Jamerson in the CAHSEE Office, at 916-319-0340 or by e-mail at gjamerso@cde.ca.gov.If you have questions regarding the CELDT Apportionment Information Report, please contact Kerri Wong in the CELDT & Psychometrics Office, at 916-319-0333 or by e-mail at kewong@cde.ca.gov.
If you have questions regarding the waiver request process, please contact the Waiver Office, at 916-319-0824.
