Frequently Asked Questions: Dual Enrollment

Pursuant to Education Code sections 46300(a) and 47612.5(e), students are required to be under the immediate supervision and control of a certificated employee of the school district or charter school and engaged in educational activities that are required of them to generate attendance for the purpose of funding. To the extent that the students are taught by a community college instructor who is not a certificated employee of the school district or charter school, students must also be under the immediate supervision and control of a certificated employee of the school district or charter school and engaged in educational activities required of them in order to generate attendance for the purpose of funding.

No. If the school district or charter school is not claiming attendance for the purpose of school district apportionment, for students participating in the college class, and if the school district or charter school is not including the time spent in the college class as instructional time, then the college instructor does not need to be a certificated employee of the school district or charter school in order to teach that class.

No. Pursuant to Education Code Section 76004(s), “a district shall not receive a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which the partnering district has been, or shall be, paid an allowance or apportionment.”

For information on community college requirements to generate funding please contact the Intersegmental Support Unit at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office at 916-322-1440

Yes. Education Code (EC) Sections 46146 and 46146.5 establish minimum instructional day requirements for students dually enrolled in a school district and a California Community College, CSU, or UC. The applicable minimum day and maximum ADA that may be generated depend on the student's enrollment status and program type. The table below summarizes these requirements.

Note: Beginning in 2026–27, the dual enrollment attendance provisions previously available only to Early College High Schools (ECHS) or program and Middle College High Schools (MCHS) or program were expanded to also apply to eligible school districts participating in a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership agreement consistent with the requirements of EC Section 76004.

¹ ECHS/P = Early College High School or program; MCHS/P = Middle College High School or program; CCAP = College and Career Access Pathway partnership agreement.

² The 180-minute minimum day applies only when academic credit will be awarded upon satisfactory completion of the enrolled high school and/or college coursework.

³ The table summarizes the maximum ADA that may be generated under the applicable dual enrollment provisions. All other attendance accounting requirements continue to apply.

In addition, pursuant to EC Section 46160(a)(2), school districts operating an ECHS or MCHS program, or participating in a CCAP partnership agreement, may alternatively schedule eligible dual enrolled students for:

Yes. Education Code (EC) Section 46146.5 specifies classroom-based scheduling requirements for students enrolled in a charter Early College High School (ECHS) or program or a charter Middle College High School (MCHS) or program. EC Section 76004(t)(2) specifies classroom-based scheduling requirements for students enrolled in a charter high school and a community college pursuant to a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership agreement.

Regardless of the number of courses offered, students must be scheduled for at least a minimum day in courses that meet TK/K-12 instructional time requirements. California law places some funding restrictions on community colleges offering classes to high school students.

With regard to how these restrictions apply to community colleges offering courses on Early College High School or Middle College High School campuses, please contact the Intersegmental Support Unit at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office at 916-322-1440.

No. ECHS, MCHS, and schools operating a CCAP partnership agreement cannot use the two-day averaging authorized by Education Code (EC) Section 46142. That statute allows averaging instructional minutes over two days to meet a 240-minute minimum day requirement, with 180 minutes serving as the minimum number of instructional minutes that may be offered on any individual day.
However, EC Section 46160 provides a separate instructional time flexibility for certain dual enrollment programs. Under EC Section 46160, the governing board of a school district that maintains an ECHS, MCHS, or dual enrollment program operating under a CCAP partnership agreement consistent with EC Section 76004 may schedule classes in these schools so that students dually enrolled part time in courses of a community college, California State University, or University of California and a non-charter ECHS, non-charter MCHS, or CCAP program attend classes at the high school for at least:

• 900 instructional minutes during any five-schoolday period, or
• 1,800 instructional minutes during any 10-schoolday period.

Accordingly, ECHS, MCHS, and CCAP programs may use the instructional minute flexibilities provided in EC Section 46160, but they may not use the two-day averaging provisions of EC Section 46142.

It depends. A reasonable amount of time, not to exceed 10 minutes, to walk from one TK/K-12 class to another TK/K-12 class can be included in instructional time. Time to walk from one TK/K-12 class to a community college class or from a community college class to a TK/K-12 class cannot be included in instructional time.

Because the college courses are not being included in the district’s instructional time requirements and attendance in them is not being used for TK/K-12 apportionment, and because the program described is distinct from independent study programs and/or correspondence courses, there does not appear to be any applicable requirement that the staff member entering the grades hold a teaching credential.

The alignment of school calendars between school districts or charter schools and community colleges offering dual enrollment programs including Early College High Schools (ECHS) and Middle College High Schools (MCHS) is the responsibility of the school districts or charter schools and community colleges entering into dual enrollment arrangements. The local governing boards of school districts or charter schools set school calendars. In preparing school calendars, local governing boards and school districts or charter schools should keep the following instructional time requirements in mind:

• The school calendar should be set within the July 1-June 30 school year.
• School districts must offer at least 180 instructional days per year. Failure to offer 180 instructional days carries a fiscal penalty (Education Code (EC) Section 46208).
• Charter schools must offer at least 175 instructional days per year. Charter schools that do not offer at least 175 days of instruction will have their Local Control Funding Formula apportionment reduced accordingly (California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 11960).
• School districts and charter schools must offer 64,800 instructional minutes each year to students in grades 9-12. Not offering the required instructional minutes carries a fiscal penalty (EC sections 46207 and 47612.5).
• School districts must schedule students for at least the minimum statutory day, each day.
• Charter schools must schedule students in accordance with classroom-based or nonclassroom-based requirements.
• No track within a multitrack charter school shall have less than 55 percent of its school days before April 15.
• If students aren’t scheduled appropriately, average daily attendance and/or instructional time can be lost.

Yes. ECHS and programs or MCHS and programs operated by school districts must offer at least 180 days of instruction per year. All students in grades 9-12 must be offered at least 64,800 instructional minutes each year. Charter ECHS and programs or Charter MCHS and programs must offer students at least 175 instructional days. Similar to school districts, all 9-12 grade students in ECHS or MCHS must be offered at least 64,800 instructional minutes per year.

Yes. LEAs may operate their dual enrollment offerings through the educational alternative of independent study.

In order to generate average daily attendance (ADA) through independent study, LEAs must ensure that all independent student conditions of apportionment are met.

For information concerning how ADA is earned through independent study, please refer to FAQ #1 under Attendance for Apportionment on the AA & IT Independent Study FAQs web page.

Yes. School districts will follow the same minimum day requirements and compute their ADA in the same manner prescribed in EC sections 46146 and 46146.5.

Please see FAQ #4 above for the minimum day requirements for students dually enrolled in a school district and on a part time basis in a California State University (CSU), University of California (UC), or community college setting.

• Example (School District): Grades 9-12 Enrollment in Community College where not enrolled in an Early College High School (ECHS) or program, Middle College High School (MCHS) or program, or dual enrollment program operating under a College and Career Access Pathway (CCAP) partnership agreement consistent with EC Section 76004

For students in grades 9-12 that are not enrolled in an ECHS or programs, MCHS or programs, or CCAP program but are enrolled as special part-time students at a community college, the minimum day per EC Section 46146(b) is 180 minutes. Per EC Section 46146(c), students that are scheduled for 180 minutes may generate a maximum 0.75 ADA.

Provided all other independent study conditions of apportionment are met, the 180-minute minimum day would apply to those students in traditional independent study and course-based independent study. Similarly, these same students would generate a maximum 0.75 ADA.

Charter schools will meet the non-classroom based scheduling and offering requirements for a dually enrolled student by offering and scheduling students less than the classroom-based requirements in EC sections 46146.5 and 76004(t)(2).

Please see FAQ #5 above for the scheduling and offering requirements for students dually enrolled in a school district and on a part time basis in a CSU, UC, or community college setting.

• Example (Charter School): Enrollment in Charter School with a CCAP partnership agreement and enrolled in a Community College

In order to claim nonclassroom-based attendance for students that are enrolled in a charter school that is part of a CCAP partnership agreement under EC Section 76004, and enrolled as special part time students at a community college and will receive academic credit upon satisfactory completion of enrolled courses, less than 80 percent of the instructional time offered by the charter school must be offered at the schoolsite and the charter school must require students to attend less than 50 percent of the minimum instructional time required to be offered pursuant to EC Section 47612.5(a)(1) in order to generate ADA for the purpose of funding (EC Section 76004(t)(2)).