California SARB Referral Letters and SART Documents
California's School Attendance Review Board process is the most fully specified attendance escalation ladder in the country, and the documents that move a case through it are scattered across county office handbooks in PDF. This page puts the nine of them on one URL, each annotated with the Education Code section it operates under.
| Document | Fires when | Code section | Must contain |
|---|---|---|---|
| First truancy notification | Student classified truant | EC §48260 / §48260.5 | The enumerated contents at §48260.5 |
| SART invitation | After a subsequent truancy report | EC §48261 context | Date, place, who may attend, that it is voluntary |
| SART contract | At the SART meeting | District practice | Agreed actions, review date, district commitments |
| Notice of SARB referral | SART unsuccessful or bypassed | EC §48263 | The referral, the reason, what SARB is |
| SARB hearing notice | Hearing scheduled | EC §48263 | Date, place, right to attend, interpretation available |
| SARB directive letter | After the hearing | EC §48263 | The board's directives and the review date |
| SARB contract | Family agrees | District / county practice | Specific, dated, signed by all parties |
| Notice of contract violation | Directives not met | EC §48263 / §48291 | What was missed, what follows |
| DA mediation or prosecution referral | SARB process exhausted | EC §48291 | The chronology exhibit and the full notice history |
Verified against the Education Code structure as at 4 August 2026. Section numbers for the truancy ladder — §48260, §48260.5, §48261, §48262, §48263, §48263.6 and §48291 — are long-standing and stable. County SARB practice varies considerably on top of the statute, so confirm local requirements with your county office of education before assembling a packet.
The notice of SARB referral, in full
[DISTRICT LETTERHEAD] — NOTICE OF REFERRAL TO THE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE REVIEW BOARD
[DATE]. [PARENT OR GUARDIAN], [ADDRESS OF RECORD].
Re: [STUDENT NAME], [DOB], [GRADE], [SCHOOL]
This letter notifies you that [DISTRICT] is referring [STUDENT NAME] to the [COUNTY/DISTRICT] School Attendance Review Board under California Education Code section 48263.
[STUDENT NAME] was classified as truant under Education Code section 48260 on [DATE], and has been reported truant on [N] occasions this school year. Notices were sent to you on [DATES] by [METHODS]. A School Attendance Review Team meeting was offered on [DATE] and [was held / was not attended].
The absences relied on are: [FULL DATE LIST].
The School Attendance Review Board is a panel that includes school staff and representatives of county agencies. It is not a court. Its purpose is to identify what is preventing regular attendance and to agree a plan. You and [STUDENT NAME] will be invited to attend, and you may bring anyone you wish. An interpreter will be provided at no cost if you tell us the language you prefer.
You will receive a separate notice with the hearing date. If you want to resolve this before the hearing, call [NAME] on [DIRECT PHONE].
Sent [DATE] by [METHOD] to [ADDRESS OF RECORD]. [NAME], [TITLE].
Spanish, US-district register. AVISO DE REMISIÓN A LA JUNTA DE REVISIÓN DE ASISTENCIA ESCOLAR (SARB). Por medio de la presente le informamos que el distrito escolar está remitiendo a [ESTUDIANTE] a la Junta de Revisión de Asistencia Escolar, conforme a la sección 48263 del Código de Educación de California. [ESTUDIANTE] fue clasificado como estudiante con ausentismo escolar injustificado el [FECHA] y se le enviaron avisos el [FECHAS]. Las fechas de las ausencias injustificadas son: [LISTA]. La SARB no es un tribunal. Es un panel que incluye personal escolar y representantes de agencias del condado, y su propósito es identificar qué impide la asistencia regular y acordar un plan. Usted y [ESTUDIANTE] serán invitados a asistir y puede traer a quien desee. Se proporcionará un intérprete sin costo alguno. Llame al [TELÉFONO] si desea resolver esto antes de la audiencia.
The pre-referral evidence checklist
Packets get returned for missing evidence far more often than for a defective letter. Before yours goes to the county, confirm you can produce every one of these:
- The §48260 classification date, and the count of absences and 30-minute tardies relied on, with every date listed.
- The §48260.5 notification, with its contents visible and its send date and method recorded.
- Every subsequent truancy report and the notice that followed it.
- Evidence that at least one conference was offered, with the date, the method the offer went out by, and whether it was held.
- The interventions attempted, with dates and owners — not a category, the actual thing that was done.
- The SART record if one was held, including the contract and any monitoring.
- Confirmation of the household's language of record, and evidence the notices went out in it.
- The address of record as at the date of each notice, and any returned mail.
- Confirmation that any IEP or 504 team has considered whether the absences are disability-related.
The last two are the ones packets most often lack. A notice sent in English to a Spanish-speaking household, or to an address the district already knew had failed, is the fastest route to a case being sent back.
Working the calendar backwards
SARB hearings cluster in February to April. That is the fixed point, and everything else is derived from it. Work backwards:
- February hearing requires a referral filed in December or early January.
- A December referral requires a SART meeting held in October or November, which requires the invitation in early October.
- An October SART requires the subsequent truancy report and second notice in late September.
- A late-September second notice requires the first §48260.5 notification within the first three or four weeks of the school year.
Which means the decision about which cases will be ready for a February hearing is effectively made in September, by whether the first notices went out on time. Districts that discover in January that they want to refer a case find they cannot, because the ladder underneath it was never built.
The practical implication for your comms setup. The autumn notice run is the constraint, not the spring packet. Whatever you send it with, you need three things by mid-September: a clean list of households with a language of record, a way to send in that language and read it before it goes, and a record afterwards that survives review. Kastr does the second and third — translation preview and send-test-to-me before the run, and an append-only hash-chained log after it. The first one is your roster's job and it is where the autumn actually goes wrong.
Questions people actually ask
What is a School Attendance Review Board?
A SARB is a California panel, usually convened at district or county level, that includes school staff and representatives of county agencies such as probation, health and social services. It is not a court. Its function under Education Code section 48263 is to review a truancy case, identify the barriers, and agree directives with the family before any prosecution route is considered.
What has to be in a SARB referral packet?
The classification date and the absence dates relied on, every notice sent with its date and method, evidence a conference was offered, the interventions attempted with dates, the SART record if there was one, the household's language of record with evidence notices went out in it, and confirmation that any IEP or 504 team has considered whether absences are disability-related. County practice adds to this, so check locally.
What is the difference between SART and SARB?
A School Attendance Review Team meeting is a school-level conference with the family, held before referral. SARB is the formal review board, convened at district or county level under Education Code section 48263, with agency representation. SART is the chance to resolve it without the board; SARB is the board.
How long does the SARB process take from first notice to hearing?
Realistically four to five months. A February hearing needs a December referral, which needs an autumn SART, which needs the first notification within the opening weeks of the school year. Districts that leave the first notices until November find their spring hearing calendar is already out of reach.
What happens if a family does not comply with a SARB contract?
The board records the non-compliance and the case may move toward the prosecution route contemplated by Education Code section 48291, typically through the district attorney or a mediation programme. In practice most counties attempt further engagement first, and the quality of the district's documented intervention record heavily influences what happens next.
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