Bill Text: IA SF2011 | 2023-2024 | 90th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to open enrollment and including applicability provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-01 - Subcommittee recommends passage. []. [SF2011 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2023-SF2011-Introduced.html
Senate File 2011 - Introduced SENATE FILE 2011 BY COURNOYER A BILL FOR An Act relating to open enrollment and including applicability 1 provisions. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh
S.F. 2011 Section 1. Section 282.18, subsection 2, paragraphs a and b, 1 Code 2024, are amended to read as follows: 2 a. A By March 1 of the preceding school year for students 3 entering grades one through twelve, or by September 1 of the 4 current school year for students entering kindergarten or for 5 prekindergarten students enrolled in special education programs 6 and included in the school district’s basic enrollment under 7 section 257.6, subsection 1, paragraph “a” , subparagraph (1), 8 a parent or guardian shall send notification to the district 9 of residence and the receiving district, on forms prescribed 10 by the department of education, that the parent or guardian 11 intends to enroll the parent’s or guardian’s child in a public 12 school in another school district. If a parent or guardian 13 fails to file a notification that the parent or guardian 14 intends to enroll the parent’s or guardian’s child in a public 15 school in another district by the deadline specified in this 16 paragraph, the procedures of subsection 3A apply. 17 b. The board of the receiving district shall enroll the 18 pupil in a school in the receiving district for the following 19 school year unless the receiving district has insufficient 20 classroom space for the pupil. The board of directors 21 of a receiving district may adopt a policy granting the 22 superintendent of the school district authority to approve open 23 enrollment applications. If the request is granted, the board 24 shall transmit a copy of the form to the parent or guardian and 25 the school district of residence within five days after board 26 action , but not later than June 1 of the preceding school year . 27 The parent or guardian may withdraw the request at any time 28 prior to the board’s action on the application start of the 29 school year . A denial of a request by the board of a receiving 30 district is not subject to appeal. 31 Sec. 2. Section 282.18, subsection 3, paragraph a, Code 32 2024, is amended to read as follows: 33 a. The superintendent of a district subject to court-ordered 34 desegregation may deny a request for transfer under this 35 -1- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 1/ 6
S.F. 2011 section if the superintendent finds that enrollment or release 1 of a pupil will adversely affect the district’s implementation 2 of the desegregation order, unless the transfer is requested 3 by a pupil whose sibling is already participating in open 4 enrollment to another district, or unless the request for 5 transfer is submitted to the district in a timely manner as 6 required under subsection 2 prior to implementation of the 7 desegregation order by the district. If a transfer request 8 would facilitate implementation of a desegregation order, the 9 district shall give priority to granting the request over other 10 requests. 11 Sec. 3. Section 282.18, Code 2024, is amended by adding the 12 following new subsections: 13 NEW SUBSECTION . 3A. a. After March 1 of the preceding 14 school year and until the date specified in section 257.6, 15 subsection 1, the parent or guardian shall send notification to 16 the district of residence and the receiving district, on forms 17 prescribed by the department of education, that good cause 18 exists for failure to meet the March 1 deadline. The board of 19 directors of a receiving school district may adopt a policy 20 granting the superintendent of the school district authority to 21 approve open enrollment applications submitted after the March 22 1 deadline. The board of the receiving district shall take 23 action to approve the request if good cause exists. If the 24 request is granted, the board shall transmit a copy of the form 25 to the parent or guardian and the school district of residence 26 within five days after board action. A denial of a request by 27 the board of a receiving district is not subject to appeal. 28 b. If a resident district believes that a receiving 29 district is violating this subsection, the resident district 30 may, within fifteen days after board action by the receiving 31 district, submit an appeal to the director of the department 32 of education. 33 c. The director of the department of education, or the 34 director’s designee, shall attempt to mediate the dispute to 35 -2- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 2/ 6
S.F. 2011 reach approval by both boards as provided in subsection 12A. 1 If approval is not reached under mediation, the director or 2 the director’s designee shall conduct a hearing and shall hear 3 testimony from both boards. Within ten days following the 4 hearing, the director shall render a decision upholding or 5 reversing the decision by the board of the receiving district. 6 Within five days of the director’s decision, the board may 7 appeal the decision of the director to the state board of 8 education under the procedures set forth in chapter 290. 9 NEW SUBSECTION . 3B. Open enrollment applications filed 10 after March 1 of the preceding school year that do not qualify 11 for good cause as provided in subsection 3A shall be subject 12 to the approval of the board of the resident district and 13 the board of the receiving district. The parent or guardian 14 shall send notification to the district of residence and the 15 receiving district that the parent or guardian seeks to enroll 16 the parent’s or guardian’s child in the receiving district. A 17 decision of either board to deny an application filed under 18 this subsection involving repeated acts of harassment of the 19 student or serious health condition of the student that the 20 resident district cannot adequately address is subject to 21 appeal under section 290.1. The state board shall exercise 22 broad discretion to achieve just and equitable results that are 23 in the best interest of the affected child or children. 24 NEW SUBSECTION . 12A. An application for open enrollment 25 may be granted at any time with approval of the resident and 26 receiving districts. 27 Sec. 4. Section 282.18, subsection 4, Code 2024, is amended 28 to read as follows: 29 4. A request under this section is for a period of not less 30 than one year. If the request is for more than one year and 31 the parent or guardian desires to have the pupil enroll in a 32 different district, the parent or guardian may petition the 33 current receiving district by March 1 of the previous school 34 year for permission to enroll the pupil in a different district 35 -3- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 3/ 6
S.F. 2011 for a period of not less than one year. Upon receipt of such a 1 request, the current receiving district board may act on the 2 request to transfer to the other school district at the next 3 regularly scheduled board meeting after the receipt of the 4 request. The new receiving district shall enroll the pupil 5 in the district unless there is insufficient classroom space 6 in the district or the district is subject to court-ordered 7 desegregation and enrollment of the pupil would adversely 8 affect implementation of the desegregation order. A denial of 9 a request to change district enrollment within the approval 10 period is not subject to appeal. A However, a pupil who has 11 been in attendance in another district under this section 12 may return to the district of residence and enroll at any 13 time, once the parent or guardian has notified the district of 14 residence and the receiving district in writing of the decision 15 to enroll the pupil in the district of residence. 16 Sec. 5. Section 282.18, subsection 9, paragraph a, 17 subparagraph (8), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows: 18 (8) If the pupil participates in open enrollment because 19 of circumstances that meet the definition of good cause. For 20 purposes of this subparagraph section , “good cause” means 21 a change in a child’s residence due to a change in family 22 residence, a change in a child’s residence from the residence 23 of one parent or guardian to the residence of a different 24 parent or guardian, a change in the state in which the family 25 residence is located, a change in a child’s parents’ marital 26 status, a guardianship or custody proceeding, placement in 27 foster care, adoption, participation in a foreign exchange 28 program, initial placement of a prekindergarten student in 29 a special education program requiring specially designed 30 instruction, or participation in a substance use disorder or 31 mental health treatment program, a change in the status of a 32 child’s resident district such as removal of accreditation 33 by the state board, surrender of accreditation, or permanent 34 closure of a nonpublic school, revocation of a charter school 35 -4- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 4/ 6
S.F. 2011 contract as provided in section 256E.10 or 256F.8 , the failure 1 of negotiations for a whole grade sharing, reorganization, 2 dissolution agreement, or the rejection of a current whole 3 grade sharing agreement, or reorganization plan. 4 Sec. 6. Section 290.1, Code 2024, is amended to read as 5 follows: 6 290.1 Appeal to state board. 7 An affected pupil, or the parent or guardian of an affected 8 pupil who is a minor, who is aggrieved by a decision or order 9 of the board of directors of a school corporation in a matter 10 of law or fact , or a decision or order of a board of directors 11 under section 282.18, subsection 3B, may, within thirty days 12 after the rendition of the decision or the making of the order, 13 appeal the decision or order to the state board of education; 14 the basis of the proceedings shall be an affidavit filed with 15 the state board by the party aggrieved within the time for 16 taking the appeal, which affidavit shall set forth any error 17 complained of in a plain and concise manner. 18 Sec. 7. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to applications 19 and notifications related to open enrollment submitted under 20 section 282.18 on or after the effective date of this Act. 21 EXPLANATION 22 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 23 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 24 This bill relates to open enrollment. Current law 25 authorizes a parent or guardian to enroll the parent’s or 26 guardian’s child in a public school in another school district 27 at any time, subject to certain limited exceptions. The bill 28 establishes that, in order for a parent or guardian to open 29 enroll the parent’s or guardian’s child, the parent or guardian 30 is required to send a notification to that effect to both the 31 district of residence and the receiving district by March 1 32 of the preceding school year for students entering grades 1 33 through 12, or by September 1 of the current school year for 34 students entering kindergarten or for prekindergarten students 35 -5- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 5/ 6
S.F. 2011 enrolled in special education programs and included in the 1 school district’s basic enrollment. The bill provides that, 2 if a parent or guardian fails to send the notification when 3 required, the parent or guardian may still be able to open 4 enroll the parent’s or guardian’s child if “good cause”, as 5 defined in Code section 282.18(9)(a)(8), exists for failure to 6 meet the March 1 deadline. If good cause does not exist for 7 failure to meet the March 1 deadline, the bill establishes that 8 open enrollment applications are subject to the approval of the 9 board of the resident district and the board of the receiving 10 district and provides for the right to appeal the decision of 11 either board to the state board of education. 12 The bill provides that an application for open enrollment 13 may be granted at any time with approval of the resident and 14 receiving districts. 15 The bill establishes appeal and mediation mechanisms, 16 involving both the department of education and the state board 17 of education, to resolve disputes between school districts 18 related to applications for open enrollment. 19 The bill applies to applications and notifications related 20 to open enrollment submitted on or after the effective date of 21 the bill. 22 -6- LSB 5155XS (5) 90 jda/jh 6/ 6
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