[Mears]

Can't they just add the days to the end of the year like we do with snow days?

[kingu]

Quite a number of LAUSD schools are on a year round schedule, so adding days isn't a probability. After the Northridge earthquake, this issue came up, and the state just decided to accept an emergency waiver. But during the rounds of student protests over Proposition 187 (which I'm firmly convinced these students helped pass), the state refused to pay schools for days where students didn't attend for at least a 'minimum day'.

South El Monte got hit hard by that one, and so did Pasadena.