Section 1. Purpose

(A) The purpose of this Act is to improve educational achievement and to enhance the opportunity for parental choice in education by providing additional options to pupils in the state to enroll in public schools and educational programs throughout the state without regard to pupil residence.

Section 2. Establishment.

(A) The [insert state educational agency] shall establish an enrollment options program to enable pupils residing in the state to attend any public school or program within the district of residence, or any public school or program in a nonresident district within the state without requiring nonresident pupils to pay tuition.

Section 3. Application Procedures.

(A) The parent or legal guardian of a pupil wishing to attend a nonresident school or program, either within or outside the district of residence, shall submit an application to the nonresident school district of choice and shall not be charged an application fee.

(B) The parent or legal guardian may submit an application at any time by completing the form provided by the state educational agency. The application must be made on an open enrollment attendance agreement form supplied by the district and developed by the [superintendent of public instruction or similar role]. School districts must accept and enroll students throughout the school year.

(C) School districts shall approve an open enrollment application unless there is no capacity at the requested school in the requested grade level.

(D) A school district may give enrollment preference to:

(a) Siblings of students already enrolled through the open enrollment policy;

(b) Secondary students who have completed 10th grade and, due to family relocation, become nonresident students, but express the desire to remain in a specific school to complete their education;

(c) Students who are children, grandchildren, or legal wards of employees;

(d) Students whose legal residences, though geographically within another county, are more proximate to a school within the receiving county, whether calculated by miles or transportation time; and

(e) Students who reside in a portion of a county where topography, impassable roads, long bus rides, or other conditions prevent the practicable transportation of the student to a school within the county, and a school within a contiguous county is more easily accessible.

(E) If the number of eligible applicants to a particular open enrollment school exceeds that school’s maximum published enrollment and after first granting enrollment to those pupils listed in the above-referenced enrollment preferences, that school shall select pupils through an equitable selection process such as a lottery, except that preference shall be given to the siblings of a pupil selected through an equitable selection process such as a lottery.

(F) School districts shall not discriminate against any pupil on the basis of their residential address, ability, disability, race, ethnicity, sex, or socioeconomic status when making enrollment decisions.

(G) Pupils enrolled into an open enrollment school and who are in good standing need not reapply for admission for subsequent years.

Section 4. Desegregation Plans.

(A) A school district that has a desegregation plan approved by the State educational agency, by a court, or by the United States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, may, in accordance with regulations of the state educational agency, limit the number of pupils who transfer into (or out of) the district under this Act if necessary to ensure compliance with the plan.

Section 5. Basis for Decision.

(A) In implementing the provisions of this Act, no school district shall be required to:

(a) Make alterations in the structure of a requested school or to make alterations to the arrangement or function of rooms within a requested school; or

(b) Establish and offer any particular program in a school if such program is not currently offered in such school

(B) Any school district may deny any of its resident pupils or any nonresident pupils from other school districts within the state permission to enroll in particular programs or schools only for any of the following reasons:

(a) Lack of space or capacity within a particular school requested, in which case, priority shall be given to resident students applying for admission to such school;

(b) A desegregation plan is in effect for the school district, and such denial is necessary in order to enable compliance with such desegregation plan; or

(c) The student has been expelled, or is in the process of being expelled, for the reasons specified in [insert statutory reference].

Section 6. Notification.

(A) In implementing the provisions of this Act, a school district shall adopt a policy requiring notification of a pupil’s acceptance or denial no later than two weeks after the application is submitted.

Section 7. Interdistrict Transportation.

(A) If requested by the parent of a pupil participating in the program under this Act, the nonresident district shall provide transportation within that district. The parent shall be responsible for transporting the child without reimbursement to and from a point on a regular bus route of the receiving district.

Section 8. Graduation.

(A) A district serving a nonresident pupil under this Act shall accept credits toward graduation that were awarded to that pupil by another district and shall graduate a nonresident pupil if the pupil meets the nonresident district’s own graduation requirements.

Section 9. Information.

(A) In order to enable a parent to make an informed decision about enrollment options under this Act, each school district shall make open enrollment information as easily available to parents as possible by including the following information on the school district’s website:

(a) One or more web pages that summarize school district open enrollment policies and procedures for interdistrict and intradistrict open enrollment into district schools;

(b) Information concerning enrollment into the district’s charter and magnet schools, if different than district schools;

(c) Information concerning the eligibility of a student to participate in school activities if the student has transferred from one school to another school, either within the school district or within another school district;

(d) Information concerning the open enrollment application process, including how and where to obtain an application and when and how notification of acceptance occurs;

(e) Information concerning the student selection process;

(f) Information concerning open enrollment timelines, including how long an enrollment shall remain valid;

(g) The number of available seats in each school, broken down by grade level;

(h) The number of open enrollment applications that were accepted in the previous school year;

(i) The number of open enrollment applications that were denied in the previous school year, along with the reason for each denial;

(j) Contact information for one or more individuals employed by the school district who are responsible for answering questions from parents concerning the open enrollment process; and

(k) A tab or link on the home page of the school district website that links viewers to open enrollment information, is clearly labeled with language that includes the words “open enrollment” and is available at all times of the year.

Section 10. Continuing Enrollment.

(A) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (B) of this section, any pupil who enrolls in a nonresident school or program pursuant to this Act may remain enrolled in that school or program through the end of the school year.

(B) This section shall not apply if:

(a) The nonresident pupil is expelled pursuant to statute from the school or program; or

(b) The nonresident pupil is excluded from the school or program for any of the reasons described in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection A of Section 5.

Section 11. Funding

For the purposes of this chapter, a pupil enrolled in an open enrollment school shall be considered transferred to and enrolled in the school district that is hosting the open enrollment school for purposes of school attendance and accountability.  The school district shall include in its net enrollment those non-resident pupils enrolled into the district’s open enrollment school in the state’s pupil reporting system.  The state shall send all federal and state funds associated with that pupil to the school district that has enrolled the pupil into the open enrollment school.

Section 12. Appeals.

(A) The [insert state] Department of Education shall establish a process whereby a parent or guardian of a student may appeal to the State Superintendent the refusal of a school district to accept the transfer of the student. If during the appeal process, the State Superintendent discovers that the education and welfare of the student could be enhanced, the State Superintendent may direct that the student may be permitted to attend a school in the receiving school district.

Section 13. Reporting Requirements.

(A) Each school district shall report annually to the State Department of Education the number of resident and nonresident student transfers approved by the school district for the preceding school calendar year, as well as the number of resident and nonresident student transfer applications denied and the reasons for those denials. On or before June 30 of each year, the State Department of Education shall compile the information from the school districts and report the information publicly on its website.

Section 14. Definitions.

(A) The term “school” means a school that is operated or authorized by a public school district or other recognized educational agency, and that provides elementary or secondary education in accordance with state law.

(B) “Parent” means the natural or adoptive parent or legal guardian of a dependent child.