Senate BillFailedEducation
SB 438: School attendance: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.
What SB 438 does, verified February 3, 2026
The proposed law aims to modify the minimum school day requirement in California. Currently, a high school student must attend for at least 240 minutes per day. However, this bill would reduce the minimum schoolday to 180 minutes for students participating in a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership with a community college. This change would benefit students enrolled in such partnerships, allowing them to attend classes at the community college while still meeting the minimum school day requirement.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
2In CommitteeCurrent
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. (2026-02-02)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions10 total · showing 5
| Feb. 02, 2026 | Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. |
| May. 23, 2025 | May 23 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. |
| May. 16, 2025 | Set for hearing May 23. |
| Apr. 07, 2025 | April 7 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file. |
| Mar. 28, 2025 | Set for hearing April 7. |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, February 18, 2025 · 837 words
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 438
| Introduced by Senator Cabaldon |
February 18, 2025 |
An act to amend Section 46146.5 of the Education Code, relating to school attendance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 438, as introduced, Cabaldon. School attendance: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership with the governing board of a school district or a county office of education, or the governing body of a charter school, as provided. Existing law provides that the minimum schoolday in any high school is 240 minutes, except as provided, including that a day of attendance for a pupil enrolled in grades 11 and 12 at an early college high school or middle college high school is 180 minutes of attendance if the pupil is also enrolled in a community college, classes of the California State University, or classes of the University of California, as specified.
This bill would additionally reduce the 240-minute minimum schoolday to instead be 180 minutes of attendance for a pupil enrolled under a CCAP partnership if the pupil is also enrolled in a community college, as specified.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 46146.5 of the Education Code is amended to read:46146.5.
(a) A day of attendance for a pupil enrolled in grade 11 or 12 at an early college high school or middle college high school is 180 minutes of attendance if the pupil is also enrolled part time in courses of the California State University or the University of California for which academic credit will be provided upon satisfactory completion of enrolled courses.(b) A day of attendance for a pupil enrolled in an early college high school or school, a middle college high school, or enrolled under a College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement, who is also a special part-time student enrolled in a community college under Article 1 (commencing with Section 48800) of Chapter 5 of Part 27, and who will receive academic credit upon satisfactory completion of enrolled courses, is 180 minutes of attendance.
(c) A day of attendance for a pupil enrolled in an early college high school or school, a middle college high school school, or enrolled under a College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement who does not satisfy subdivision (a) or (b) is 240 minutes of attendance.
(d) For a charter school that is an early college high school or middle college high school, for purposes of calculating classroom-based average daily attendance for classroom-based instruction apportionments, at least 80 percent of the instructional time offered by the charter school shall be at the schoolsite, and the charter school shall require the attendance of a pupil enrolled in grade 11 or 12 for a minimum of 50 percent of the minimum instructional time required to be offered pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 47612.5 if the pupil is also enrolled part time in courses of the California State University or the University of California for which academic credit will be provided upon satisfactory completion of enrolled courses.
(e) For a charter school that is an early college high school or middle college high school, for purposes of calculating classroom-based average daily attendance for classroom-based instruction apportionments, at least 80 percent of the instructional time offered by the charter school shall be at the schoolsite, and the charter school shall require the attendance of a pupil for a minimum of 50 percent of the minimum instructional time required to be offered pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 47612.5 if the pupil is also a special part-time student enrolled in a community college under Article 1 (commencing with Section 48800) of Chapter 5 of Part 27, and who will receive academic credit upon satisfactory completion of enrolled courses.
(f) For a pupil enrolled in a charter school that is an early college high school or middle college high school and who does not satisfy the attendance and enrollment requirements of subdivision (d) or (e), for purposes of calculating classroom-based average daily attendance for classroom-based instruction apportionments, at least 80 percent of the instructional time offered by the charter school shall be at the schoolsite, and the charter school shall require the attendance of the pupil for a minimum of 67 percent of the minimum instructional time required to be offered pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 47612.5.
(g) For purposes of this section, middle the following definitions apply:
(1) “College and Career Access Pathways partnership agreement” means the same as described in Section 76004.
(2) “Middle
college high school(h) The requirements of this section shall be subject to annual audits, which shall be conducted pursuant to Section 41020.
Text of SB 438 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions