(a) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small high school is a high school with an average daily attendance of less than 287 pupils that meets any of the following conditions:

(1) The high school had an average daily attendance of less than 96 pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 15 miles by well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 20 miles or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 30 miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their homes to the nearest other public high school.

(2) The high school had an average daily attendance of 96 pupils or more and less than 144 pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 10 miles by well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 18 miles or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 25 miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their homes to the nearest other public high school.

(3) The high school had an average daily attendance of 144 pupils or more and less than 192 pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 71/2 miles by well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 15 miles or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 20 miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their homes to the nearest other public high school.

(4) The high school had an average daily attendance of 192 pupils or more and less than 287 pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, during the preceding fiscal year and is more than 5 miles by well-traveled road from the nearest other public high school and either 90 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 10 miles or 25 percent of the pupils would be required to travel 15 miles to the nearest other public high school.

(5) Topographical or other conditions exist in the school district that would impose unusual hardships on the pupils if the number of miles specified in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) were required to be traveled. In these cases, the Superintendent may, when requested, and after investigation, grant exceptions from the distance requirements.

(b) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small high school also includes either of the following:

(1) A high school maintained by a school district for the exclusive purpose of educating juvenile hall pupils or pupils with exceptional needs.

(2) A high school maintained by a unified school district as the only comprehensive high school if the high school has an average daily attendance of less than 287 pupils and the school district has 50 or fewer pupils per square mile of school district territory, as measured by the number of pupils residing in the school district.

(c) For purposes of Section 42284, a necessary small high school does not include a continuation school.

(d) For purposes of this section, “other public high school” is a public school, including a charter school, that serves any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 32, Sec. 38. (AB 1808) Effective June 27, 2018.)