California Education Code Section 42283

(a) For the purposes of Section 42282, a necessary small school is an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school, maintained by a school district which maintains two or more schools and to which school any of the following conditions apply: (1) If as many as five pupils residing in the district and attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school in the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 would be required to travel more than 10 miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the nearest other public elementary school. (2) If as many as 15 pupils residing in the district and attending kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, exclusive of pupils attending the seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school in the elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 would be required to travel more than five miles one way from a point on a well-traveled road nearest their home to the nearest other public elementary school. (3) If topographical or other conditions exist in a district which would impose unusual hardships if the number of miles specified in paragraph (1) or (2) were required to be traveled, or if during the fiscal year the roads which would be traveled have been impassable for more than an average of two weeks per year for the preceding five years, the governing board of the district may, on or before April 1, request the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in writing, for an exemption from these requirements or for a reduction in the miles required. The request shall be accompanied by a statement of the conditions upon which the request is based, giving the information in a form required by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall cause an investigation to be made, and shall either grant the request to the extent he or she deems necessary, or deny the request. (b) For the 1998-99 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, a necessary small school, as defined in subdivision (a), shall be an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101 reduced by the statewide average rate of excused absence reported for elementary school districts for the 1996-97 fiscal year pursuant to Section 42238.7, rounded to the nearest integer.