CHINO HILLS, Calif. (AP) — State education officials have recommended that California's State Board of Education deny a request by two elementary schools to use extended summer sessions already under way to make up for lost class time.

Chino Valley Unified School District proposed holding a 34-day summer session after realizing Rolling Ridge Elementary School in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary School in Chino failed to meet the minimum class time required for fourth through sixth graders on all days.

But California education officials must sign off on any proposal to make up class time after June 30 and aren't keen on the district's plan, citing low attendance rates during the summer session.

That could affect 22 days of schooling the district has planned for the summer in an attempt to meet state standards and avoid a roughly $5 million penalty.

California's State Board of Education is scheduled to discuss Chino Valley's proposal on July 9.

Chino Valley Unified discovered in April that Friday class schedules at the two schools were five to 10 minutes shorter than the state allows. While the schools both meet the state-mandated minimum 54,000 minutes of classroom time annually, they fell just shy of 180 minutes on Fridays.

To remedy the problem, the district proposed holding another six weeks of class. But state education officials noted fewer than half the students at each of the schools have been participating in the summer sessions.

"Although the district is offering additional school days to the affected students, the current significantly low attendance data indicate that the program is falling short of constituting a regular school day," officials wrote in a staff report ahead of the upcoming meeting.

Rather, officials suggested Chino Valley could also make up lost time by holding additional school days in the coming two years.

Chino Valley Unified spokeswoman Julie Gobin told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin the schools will continue to hold summer classes until the board makes its decision.

Assemblyman Curt Hagman, a Republican from Chino Hills, has also been trying to rescue summer break with a bill that would waive penalties against the district once it completes 10 days of makeup classes. The bill passed the Assembly last month.