This page includes information on state waivers for student attendance. District and campus officials can request waivers for excused absences or reduced attendance rates due to inclement weather, health, safety-related, or other issues.
Additional Days School Year (ADSY) Waiver
The Additional Days School Year (ADSY) program provides formula funding for school systems that add up to 30 instructional days to eligible elementary or middle school campuses, as authorized by Texas Education Code (TEC) §48.0051, and requires a minimum of 175 instructional days. Participating campuses may receive up to five ADSY-specific waiver days per year for missed instructional days due to weather, health, or safety-related events. These waivers support compliance with the 175-day instructional requirement and are separate from the Missed School Day waiver. See Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (SAAH), Section 11.5.
Low Attendance Days
Districts or campuses may request a waiver to exclude instructional days from ADA and FSP funding calculations if attendance is at least 10 percentage points below the prior school year's overall average attendance for the district or applicable campus due to inclement weather, health, or safety-related issues. See SAAH 3.8.1.3. In the waiver request, the district must attach supporting documentation of the reason for low attendance, the official attendance report for that date, and the prior year's attendance report showing the overall average for the district or applicable campus.
Missed School Days
Districts or campuses may request a waiver for excused absences when instructional days are missed due to inclement weather, health, safety issues, or other circumstances. The first two missed days, regardless of cause, must be made up using designated makeup days or additional instructional minutes (see SAAH 3.8.1).
Texas Education Code (TEC), §25.081 allows school districts to add minutes to the end of the normal school day to recover instructional time lost due to closures resulting from disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or other calamities. If a district misses additional instructional days beyond the two days made up through built-in days/minutes or added days/minutes, it may apply to Â鶹Դ´ for a missed school day waiver.
Charter schools must submit waiver requests as soon as possible after the missed day to ensure Foundation School Program (FSP) System calendars are updated and six-week reporting remains accurate.
See SAAH 3.8.2 Closures for Bad Weather or Other Issues of Health or Safety for more information.
