282.18 - OPEN ENROLLMENT.
282.18 OPEN ENROLLMENT.
1. a. It is the goal of the general assembly to permit a wide
range of educational choices for children enrolled in schools in this
state and to maximize ability to use those choices. It is therefore
the intent that this section be construed broadly to maximize
parental choice and access to educational opportunities which are not
available to children because of where they live.
b. For the school year commencing July 1, 1989, and each
succeeding school year, a parent or guardian residing in a school
district may enroll the parent's or guardian's child in a public
school in another school district in the manner provided in this
section.
2. a. By March 1 of the preceding school year for students
entering grades one through twelve, or by September 1 of the current
school year for students entering kindergarten, the parent or
guardian shall send notification to the district of residence and the
receiving district, on forms prescribed by the department of
education, that the parent or guardian intends to enroll the parent's
or guardian's child in a public school in another school district.
If a parent or guardian fails to file a notification that the parent
intends to enroll the parent's or guardian's child in a public school
in another district by the deadline specified in this subsection, the
procedures of subsection 4 apply.
b. The board of the receiving district shall enroll the pupil
in a school in the receiving district for the following school year
unless the receiving district does not have classroom space for the
pupil. The board of directors of a receiving district may adopt a
policy granting the superintendent of the school district authority
to approve open enrollment applications. If the request is granted,
the board shall transmit a copy of the form to the parent or guardian
and the school district of residence within five days after board
action, but not later than June 1 of the preceding school year. The
parent or guardian may withdraw the request at any time prior to the
start of the school year. A denial of a request by the board of a
receiving district is not subject to appeal.
c. Every school district shall adopt a policy which defines
the term "insufficient classroom space" for that district.
3. a. The superintendent of a district subject to a voluntary
diversity or court-ordered desegregation plan, as recognized by rule
of the state board of education, may deny a request for transfer
under this section if the superintendent finds that enrollment or
release of a pupil will adversely affect the district's
implementation of the desegregation order or diversity plan, unless
the transfer is requested by a pupil whose sibling is already
participating in open enrollment to another district, or unless the
request for transfer is submitted to the district in a timely manner
as required under subsection 2 prior to the adoption of a
desegregation plan by the district. If a transfer request would
facilitate a voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation plan,
the district shall give priority to granting the request over other
requests.
b. A parent or guardian, whose request has been denied
because of a desegregation order or diversity plan, may appeal the
decision of the superintendent to the board of the district in which
the request was denied. The board may either uphold or overturn the
superintendent's decision. A decision of the board to uphold the
denial of the request is subject to appeal to the district court in
the county in which the primary business office of the district is
located. The state board of education shall adopt rules establishing
definitions, guidelines, and a review process for school districts
that adopt voluntary diversity plans. The guidelines shall include
criteria and standards that school districts must follow when
developing a voluntary diversity plan. The department of education
shall provide technical assistance to a school district that is
seeking to adopt a voluntary diversity plan. A school district
implementing a voluntary diversity plan prior to July 1, 2008, shall
have until July 1, 2009, to comply with guidelines adopted by the
state board pursuant to this section.
c. The board of directors of a school district subject to
voluntary diversity or court-ordered desegregation shall develop a
policy for implementation of open enrollment in the district. The
policy shall contain objective criteria for determining when a
request would adversely impact the desegregation order or voluntary
diversity plan and criteria for prioritizing requests that do not
have an adverse impact on the order or plan.
4. a. After March 1 of the preceding school year and until
the date specified in section 257.6, subsection 1, the parent or
guardian shall send notification to the district of residence and the
receiving district, on forms prescribed by the department of
education, that good cause, as defined in paragraph "b", exists
for failure to meet the March 1 deadline. The board of directors of
a receiving school district may adopt a policy granting the
superintendent of the school district authority to approve open
enrollment applications submitted after the March 1 deadline. The
board of the receiving district shall take action to approve the
request if good cause exists. If the request is granted, the board
shall transmit a copy of the form to the parent or guardian and the
school district of residence within five days after board action. A
denial of a request by the board of a receiving district is not
subject to appeal.
b. For purposes of this section, "good cause" means a
change in a child's residence due to a change in family residence, a
change in the state in which the family residence is located, a
change in a child's parents' marital status, a guardianship or
custody proceeding, placement in foster care, adoption, participation
in a foreign exchange program, or participation in a substance abuse
or mental health treatment program, a change in the status of a
child's resident district such as removal of accreditation by the
state board, surrender of accreditation, or permanent closure of a
nonpublic school, revocation of a charter school contract as provided
in section 256F.8, the failure of negotiations for a whole grade
sharing, reorganization, dissolution agreement or the rejection of a
current whole grade sharing agreement, or reorganization plan. If
the good cause relates to a change in status of a child's school
district of residence, however, action by a parent or guardian must
be taken to file the notification within forty-five days of the last
board action or within thirty days of the certification of the
election, whichever is applicable to the circumstances.
c. If a resident district believes that a receiving district
is violating this subsection, the resident district may, within
fifteen days after board action by the receiving district, submit an
appeal to the director of the department of education.
d. The director, or the director's designee, shall attempt to
mediate the dispute to reach approval by both boards as provided in
subsection 14. If approval is not reached under mediation, the
director or the director's designee shall conduct a hearing and shall
hear testimony from both boards. Within ten days following the
hearing, the director shall render a decision upholding or reversing
the decision by the board of the receiving district. Within five
days of the director's decision, the board may appeal the decision of
the director to the state board of education under the procedures set
forth in chapter 290.
5. Open enrollment applications filed after March 1 of the
preceding school year that do not qualify for good cause as provided
in subsection 4 shall be subject to the approval of the board of the
resident district and the board of the receiving district. The
parent or guardian shall send notification to the district of
residence and the receiving district that the parent or guardian
seeks to enroll the parent's or guardian's child in the receiving
district. A decision of either board to deny an application filed
under this subsection involving repeated acts of harassment of the
student or serious health condition of the student that the resident
district cannot adequately address is subject to appeal under section
290.1. The state board shall exercise broad discretion to achieve
just and equitable results that are in the best interest of the
affected child or children.
6. A request under this section is for a period of not less than
one year. If the request is for more than one year and the parent or
guardian desires to have the pupil enroll in a different district,
the parent or guardian may petition the current receiving district by
March 1 of the previous school year for permission to enroll the
pupil in a different district for a period of not less than one year.
Upon receipt of such a request, the current receiving district board
may act on the request to transfer to the other school district at
the next regularly scheduled board meeting after the receipt of the
request. The new receiving district shall enroll the pupil in a
school in the district unless there is insufficient classroom space
in the district or unless enrollment of the pupil would adversely
affect the court-ordered or voluntary desegregation plan of the
district. A denial of a request to change district enrollment within
the approved period is not subject to appeal. However, a pupil who
has been in attendance in another district under this section may
return to the district of residence and enroll at any time, once the
parent or guardian has notified the district of residence and the
receiving district in writing of the decision to enroll the pupil in
the district of residence.
7. A pupil participating in open enrollment shall be counted, for
state school foundation aid purposes, in the pupil's district of
residence. A pupil's residence, for purposes of this section, means
a residence under section 282.1. The board of directors of the
district of residence shall pay to the receiving district the state
cost per pupil for the previous school year, plus any moneys received
for the pupil as a result of the non-English speaking weighting under
section 280.4, subsection 3, for the previous school year multiplied
by the state cost per pupil for the previous year. If the pupil
participating in open enrollment is also an eligible pupil under
section 261E.6, the receiving district shall pay the tuition
reimbursement amount to an eligible postsecondary institution as
provided in section 261E.7.
8. If a request filed under this section is for a child requiring
special education under chapter 256B, the request to transfer to the
other district shall only be granted if the receiving district
maintains a special education instructional program which is
appropriate to meet the child's educational needs and the enrollment
of the child in the receiving district's program would not cause the
size of the class in that special education instructional program in
the receiving district to exceed the maximum class size in rules
adopted by the state board of education for that program. For
children requiring special education, the board of directors of the
district of residence shall pay to the receiving district the actual
costs incurred in providing the appropriate special education.
9. a. If a parent or guardian of a child, who is
participating in open enrollment under this section, moves to a
different school district during the course of either district's
academic year, the child's first district of residence shall be
responsible for payment of the cost per pupil plus weightings or
special education costs to the receiving school district for the
balance of the school year in which the move took place. The new
district of residence shall be responsible for the payments during
succeeding years.
b. If a request to transfer is due to a change in family
residence, change in the state in which the family residence is
located, a change in a child's parents' marital status, a
guardianship proceeding, placement in foster care, adoption,
participation in a foreign exchange program, or participation in a
substance abuse or mental health treatment program, and the child who
is the subject of the request is enrolled in any grade from
kindergarten through grade twelve at the time of the request and is
not currently using any provision of open enrollment, the parent or
guardian of the child shall have the option to have the child remain
in the child's original district of residence under open enrollment
with no interruption in the child's kindergarten through grade twelve
educational program. If a parent or guardian exercises this option,
the child's new district of residence is not required to pay the
amount calculated in subsection 7 until the start of the first full
year of enrollment of the child.
c. Quarterly payments shall be made to the receiving
district.
d. If the transfer of a pupil from one district to another
results in a transfer from one area education agency to another, the
sending district shall forward a copy of the request to the sending
district's area education agency. The receiving district shall
forward a copy of the request to the receiving district's area
education agency. Any moneys received by the area education agency
of the sending district for the pupil who is the subject of the
request shall be forwarded to the receiving district's area education
agency.
e. A district of residence may apply to the school budget
review committee if a student was not included in the resident
district's enrollment count during the fall of the year preceding the
student's transfer under open enrollment.
10. a. Notwithstanding section 285.1 relating to
transportation of nonresident pupils, the parent or guardian is
responsible for transporting the pupil without reimbursement to and
from a point on a regular school bus route of the receiving district.
For purposes of this subsection, "a point on a regular school bus
route of the receiving district" includes any school bus stop on
the regular school bus route of the receiving district that existed
prior to road construction that necessitates a change in the regular
school bus route, whether or not the change in the regular school bus
route resulting from the road construction necessitates sending
school vehicles from the receiving district into the district of
residence in order to safely, economically, or efficiently transport
students to or from the preexisting point.
b. A receiving district may send school vehicles into the
district of residence of the pupil using the open enrollment option
under this section, for the purpose of transporting the pupil to and
from school in the receiving district, if the boards of both the
sending and receiving districts agree to this arrangement.
c. If the pupil meets the economic eligibility requirements
established by the department and state board of education, the
sending district is responsible for providing transportation or
paying the pro rata cost of the transportation to a parent or
guardian for transporting the pupil to and from a point on a regular
school bus route of a contiguous receiving district unless the cost
of providing transportation or the pro rata cost of the
transportation to a parent or guardian exceeds the average
transportation cost per pupil transported for the previous school
year in the district. If the cost exceeds the average transportation
cost per pupil transported for the previous school year, the sending
district shall only be responsible for that average per pupil amount.
A sending district which provides transportation for a pupil to a
contiguous receiving district under this subsection may withhold,
from the district cost per pupil amount that is to be paid to the
receiving district, an amount which represents the average or pro
rata cost per pupil for transportation, whichever is less.
11. A pupil who participates in open enrollment for purposes of
attending a grade in grades nine through twelve in a school district
other than the district of residence is ineligible to participate in
varsity interscholastic athletic contests and athletic competitions
during the pupil's first ninety school days of enrollment in the
district except that the pupil may participate immediately in a
varsity interscholastic sport if the pupil is entering grade nine for
the first time and did not participate in an interscholastic athletic
competition for another school or school district during the summer
immediately following eighth grade, if the district of residence and
the other school district jointly participate in the sport, if the
sport in which the pupil wishes to participate is not offered in the
district of residence, if the pupil chooses to use open enrollment to
attend school in another school district because the district in
which the student previously attended school was dissolved and merged
with one or more contiguous school districts under section 256.11,
subsection 12, if the pupil participates in open enrollment because
the pupil's district of residence has entered into a whole grade
sharing agreement with another district for the pupil's grade, or if
the parent or guardian of the pupil participating in open enrollment
is an active member of the armed forces and resides in permanent
housing on government property provided by a branch of the armed
services. A pupil who has paid tuition and attended school, or has
attended school pursuant to a mutual agreement between the two
districts, in a district other than the pupil's district of residence
for at least one school year is also eligible to participate
immediately in interscholastic athletic contests and athletic
competitions under this section, but only as a member of a team from
the district that pupil had attended. For purposes of this
subsection, "school days of enrollment" does not include
enrollment in summer school. For purposes of this subsection,
"varsity" means the same as defined in section 256.46.
12. If a pupil, for whom a request to transfer has been filed
with a district, has been suspended or expelled in the district, the
pupil shall not be permitted to transfer until the pupil has been
reinstated in the sending district. Once the pupil has been
reinstated, however, the pupil shall be permitted to transfer in the
same manner as if the pupil had not been suspended or expelled by the
sending district. If a pupil, for whom a request to transfer has
been filed with a district, is expelled in the district, the pupil
shall be permitted to transfer to a receiving district under this
section if the pupil applies for and is reinstated in the sending
district. However, if the pupil applies for reinstatement but is not
reinstated in the sending district, the receiving district may deny
the request to transfer. The decision of the receiving district is
not subject to appeal.
13. If a request under this section is for transfer to a
laboratory school, as described in chapter 265, the student, who is
the subject of the request, shall not be included in the basic
enrollment of the student's district of residence, and the laboratory
school shall report the enrollment of the student directly to the
department of education, unless the number of students from the
district attending the laboratory school during the current school
year, as a result of open enrollment under this section, exceeds the
number of students enrolled in the laboratory school from that
district during the 1989-1990 school year. If the number of students
enrolled in the laboratory school from a district during the current
year exceeds the number of students enrolled from that district
during the 1989-1990 school year, those students who represent the
difference between the current and the 1988-1989 school year
enrollment figures shall be included in the basic enrollment of the
students' districts of residence and the districts shall retain any
moneys received as a result of the inclusion of the student in the
district enrollment. The total number of students enrolled at a
laboratory school during a school year shall not exceed six hundred
seventy students. The regents institution operating the laboratory
school and the board of directors of the school district in the
community in which the regents institution is located shall develop a
student transfer policy designed to protect and promote the quality
and integrity of the teacher education program at the laboratory
school, the viability of the education program of the local school
district in which the regents institution is located, and to indicate
the order in which and reasons why requests to transfer to a
laboratory school shall be considered. A laboratory school may deny
a request for transfer under the policy. A denial of a request to
transfer under this paragraph{ is not subject to appeal under section
290.1.
14. An application for open enrollment may be granted at any time
with approval of the resident and receiving districts.
15. The director of the department of education shall recommend
rules to the state board of education for the orderly implementation
of this section. The state board shall adopt rules as needed for the
implementation of this section. Section History: Recent Form
88 Acts, ch 1113, §1; 89 Acts, ch 12, §1; 89 Acts, ch 319, §81; 90
Acts, ch 1182, § 1, 5; 90 Acts, ch 1233, § 10; 91 Acts, ch 97, §62;
91 Acts, ch 202, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1135, § 3--5; 92 Acts, ch 1163, §
64; 93 Acts, ch 149, § 1; 94 Acts, ch 1091, §24; 94 Acts, ch 1131,
§8; 94 Acts, ch 1175, §10; 96 Acts, ch 1157, §1--3; 97 Acts, ch 23,
§31, 32; 2002 Acts, ch 1129, §4; 2002 Acts, ch 1140, §17--23; 2002
Acts, ch 1124, §13, 16; 2003 Acts, ch 79, §5, 7, 8; 2003 Acts, ch
180, §35, 36, 72; 2005 Acts, ch 79, §2; 2005 Acts, ch 179, §93--95;
2006 Acts, ch 1152, §41--43; 2008 Acts, ch 1071, §1; 2008 Acts, ch
1181, §64; 2009 Acts, ch 18, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §104
Referred to in § 85.20, 85.61, 256.46, 256F.4, 256F.9, 257.6,
261E.7, 275.15, 282.9, 290.1, 321.178, 321.194 Footnotes
{The word "subsection" probably intended; corrective legislation
is pending
For future amendment adding new subsections 15A and 15B to this
section effective July 1, 2010, see 2009 Acts, ch 177, §54, 57