August 2026 State SARB Meeting Agenda

California State School Attendance Review Board
Notice of Public Meeting

August 20, 2026
9:30 a.m.–Noon
Link to Zoom Registration: August 20 SARB Meeting
Location to attend in person: 1430 N Street, Suite 1801, Sacramento, CA 95814

Mission

The mission of State SARB is to provide policy coordination and advocacy for children and families through interagency collaboration that improves attendance, reduces dropout rates and diverts youth from the criminal justice system.

Vision

The vision of State SARB is that all students will achieve high levels of personal and academic success, and they become contributing members of society.

Agenda

The following members of the State SARB will be remotely attending the meeting:

Elizabeth Bahn, San Jose Unified School District; Ahmad Bahrami, Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health; Samantha Blackburn, California State University, Sacramento; Bryan Campoy, Kern High School District; Ann-Maura Cervantes, Clovis Unified School District; Angela Chandler, Los Angeles County Office Education; Jane Claar, Sacramento County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission; Nyeisha DeWitt, Oakland Natives Give Back; Jennifer Elenes, Santa Clara County Office of Education; Laura Faer, California Department of Justice; Ryan Gallagher, High Tech High; Sherman Garnett, California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance; Josh Godinez, California Association of School Counselors; Jennifer Gomeztrejo, Student Support Services Solutions, Inc. and California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance; Sheri Hanni, Butte County Office Education; Jeff Harris, Del Norte County Unified School District/Del Norte County Office of Education; Korena Hazen, Department of Social Services; Cecelia Leong, Attendance Works; Brent Malicote, Sacramento County Office of Education; Christy Miro, Self; Tracie Neal, Probation Department, Shasta County; Melissa Parrett, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools Office; Jami Parsons, Orange County Department of Education; Amalia Pock, Humboldt County Office of Education; Lisa Salazar, City of Los Angeles Youth Development Department; Tracy Schmidt, San Diego County Office of Education; Alisha Schoen, Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office; Christina Sepulveda, Boys and Girls Clubs of Garden Grove; Antonia Torres, San Diego County Child Welfare; Mike Winters, Ventura County Office of Education; De’shawn Woolridge, La Honda Pescadero Unified School District.

Agenda times are approximate and are provided for convenience only.

Item 01: Call Meeting to Order/Roll Call

9:30 a.m.—Information/Action

Call the meeting to order.
Roll call.

Item 02: Approval of Agenda and Minutes

9:35 a.m.—Information/Action

Agenda and minutes for approval.

• Approval of August 20, 2026, Agenda
• Approval of February 19, 2026, Minutes
• Approval of March 26, 2026, Minutes
• Approval of May 21, 2026, Minutes

Item 03: Update on 2025 Recommendations to the Superintendent

9:50 a.m.—Information/Discussion

Update on the State SARB 2025 recommendations sent to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI).

• SARB recommendation that attendance data related to independent Study (i.e., average daily attendance (ADA) generating and non-ADA generating independent study days) be reported separately by the California Department of Education when calculating chronic absenteeism rates.

Item 04: Review and Discuss 2024 Recommendations and Additional Recommendation

9:55 a.m.—Discussion/Action

• Review and discuss the 2024 SARB recommendations sent to the SSPI, as well as an additional recommendation listed in item five below, and determine if it is the desire of the State SARB to, as outlined in California Education Code (EC) Section 48325(c) , forward part or all the recommendations listed below to the SSPI as 2026 recommendations.

Item 05: State School Attendance Review Board Supervisor of Attendance Training Framework Subcommittee

10:35 a.m.—Information

Update on the State SARB Supervisor of Attendance Training Framework subcommittee work.

Changes to EC are displayed as follows:

<begin add> new, added text is bold and italicized <end add>
<begin delete> deleted text is bold with strikethroughs <end delete>

1. Recommendation that EC Section 48245 be amended as follows:
   
   
   • In any district or districts <begin delete> with and average daily attendance of 1,000 or more school children <end delete>, no district supervisor of attendance shall be appointed unless he has been lawfully certificated for the work by the county board of education <begin add> and is recertificated at least every two years. At a minimum, the certification shall encompass all components of EC 48240, discussion of the causes that lead to chronic absenteeism and problem behaviors, and an overview of all recent attendance-related legislation <end add>.
     
     
2. Recommendation that EC Section 47610 be amended to add letter (f) as illustrated below:
   
   
   • A charter school shall comply with this part and all of the provisions set forth in its charter, but is otherwise exempt from the laws governing school districts, except all of the following:
     
     
     • (a) As specified in Section 47611.
       
       
     • (b) As specified in Section 41365.
       
       
     • (c) All laws establishing minimum age for public school attendance.
       
       
     • (d) The California Building Standards Code (Part 2 (commencing with Section 101) of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations), as adopted and enforced by the local building enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the area in which the charter school is located.
       
       
     • (e) Charter school facilities shall comply with subdivision (d) by January 1, 2007.
       
       
     • <begin add> (f) Education Code sections 48200–48297. <end add>
       
       
3. Recommendation to include on-site validation visits as part of the Model SARB Recognition Program application process, beginning with 2026–27 applications.
   
   
4. Recommendation to form a SARB Subcommittee to review, update, and revise, as necessary, the draft SARB Handbook, dated April 2020 and to publish a dynamic electronic version of the updated handbook on the California Department of Education’s website. The handbook should be formatted in such a way as to add appendices with useful links, best practices, and other resources, as necessary and appropriate.
   
   
5. Recommendation to revise EC Section 48321(a)(1) from permissive language “may” to mandatory language “shall” in order to strengthen county SARBs' infrastructure and statewide attendance support systems and ensure all local educational agencies have access to county-level support and expertise.
   
   
   • A county school attendance review board <begin delete> may <end delete> <begin add> shall <end add> be established in each county. The county school attendance review board may accept referrals or requests for hearing services from one or more school districts within its jurisdiction pursuant to subdivision (f). A county school attendance review board may be operated through a consortium or partnership of a county with one or more school districts or between two or more counties.

Item 06: Implementation of the California Attendance Guidance—Part 1

10:40 a.m.—Information/Discussion

Presentation on how Orange County Office of Education uses the California Attendance Guidance.

Item 07: Model School Attendance Review Board Presentation

10:55 a.m.—Information/Discussion

Model SARB presentation by Lindsay Unified School District.

Item 08: Selection of Nominees for 2027 State School Attendance Review Board Officers

11:10 a.m.—Discussion

Nominations for the facilitator, assistant meeting facilitator, and secretary for the 2027 State SARB officers.

Item 09: 2027 State School Attendance Review Board Dates

11:25 a.m.—Information

Announcement of the 2027 State SARB meeting dates.

• Thursday, February 18, 2027
• Thursday, May 20, 2027
• Thursday, August 19, 2027
• Thursday, November 18, 2027

Item 09: Suggestions for Future Agenda Items

11:30 a.m.—Information/Discussion

State SARB members provide suggestions for future agenda items.

Item 11: Public Comment

11:35 a.m.—Information

Members of the public will be invited to speak for a maximum of two minutes each. Comments will be for information only.

Item 12: Adjournment of Meeting

11:40 a.m.—Information

Future meeting date: November 19, 2026

Reasonable Accommodations

Reasonable Accommodations will be provided for any individual with a disability.

Pursuant to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in this meeting may request assistance by contacting Educational Options at least ten business days in advance of the scheduled meeting date.