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STATE ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS

Regular school attendance is essential for a student to make the most of his or her education—to benefit from teacher‐
led and school activities, to build each day’s learning on the previous day’s, and to grow as an individual. Absences from
class may result in serious disruption of a student’s mastery of the instructional materials; therefore, the student and
parent should make every effort to avoid unnecessary absences. Two state laws—one dealing with compulsory
attendance, the other with attendance for course credit—are of special interest to students and parents.

REQUIRED SCHOOL DAYS (Minutes)

State law requires that students receive 75,600 minutes (180 days) of instruction per year with at least 420 minutes (7
hours) per day. Intermissions and recess DO count in the total number of minutes.

LOW ATTENDANCE DAYS

Whenever a campus has a campus-wide attendance of less than 90%, the attendance clerk or assistant principal in
charge of attendance should report the attendance percentage to the Central Attendance Office. Please email the
support staff and attendance administrator or call 972-494-8684 before 4:00 p.m. of that day, even if the attendance
has already been reported to the district’s health services. A day’s attendance percentage is found by using the ADA
report (See Appendix – Attendance ADA Reports). The low attendance information is forwarded to the Executive
Director of Student Services. The Executive Director of Student Services is the district attendance officer and will
request waivers when appropriate.
ELIGIBILITY CODES

An eligibility code must be reported to the state agency on every student who has been enrolled in the school district.
The data entry clerk is responsible for placing each student’s ADA eligibility code into Skyward at the time of enrollment.
The eligibility code is reported to the state via the PEIMS data system. Eligibility codes validate ADA funding. The
reported eligibility code indicates to TEA whether the district is eligible for reimbursement of foundation school funds
for providing educational services to the student. If it is determined that an eligibility code has been assigned in error,
the code should be changed immediately, and all subsequent reports examined for accuracy of the reported data.
Eligibility codes should be checked on DR reports each cycle before submission.

Eligibility (Membership) Codes for Attendance – SAAH 3.2.1.1; 3.2.2
A student who is enrolled but does not meet membership requirements of receiving at least 2 hours of instruction
0
each school day.
A student who is in membership and receives instruction for at least 4 hours each school day and is eligible for
1
full-day ADA funding.
A student who is in membership and receives at least 2 hours of instruction each school day, but not as many as 4
2
hours of instruction each school day and is eligible for half-day ADA funding.
A nonresident (transfer student) who is allowed to enter a district school and will receive at least 4 hours of
3 instruction each school day and is eligible for full-day ADA funding. (Employee’s student who lives outside the
district)
A student who will attend school for at least 4 hours of instruction each school day (full day) BUT is not eligible for
4
ADA funding. (e.g. underage, overage).
A student who will attend school for at least 2 hours of instruction each school day (half-day) BUT is ineligible for
5
ADA funding. (e.g. underage, JJAEP participants for certain offenses).

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