53A-2-208 - Rules for acceptance and rejection of applications.
53A-2-208. Rules for acceptance and rejection of applications.
(1) (a) A local school board shall adopt rules governing acceptance and rejection ofapplications required under Section 53A-2-207.
(b) The rules adopted under Subsection (1)(a) shall include policies and procedures toassure that decisions regarding enrollment requests are administered fairly without prejudice toany student or class of student, except as provided in Subsection (2).
(2) Standards for accepting or rejecting an application for enrollment may include:
(a) for an elementary school, the capacity of the grade level;
(b) maintenance of heterogeneous student populations if necessary to avoid violation ofconstitutional or statutory rights of students;
(c) not offering, or having capacity in, an elementary or secondary special education orother special program the student requires;
(d) maintenance of reduced class sizes:
(i) in a Title I school that uses federal, state, and local money to reduce class sizes for thepurpose of improving student achievement; or
(ii) in a school that uses school trust money to reduce class size;
(e) willingness of prospective students to comply with district policies; and
(f) giving priority to intradistrict transfers over interdistrict transfers.
(3) (a) Standards for accepting or rejecting applications for enrollment may not include:
(i) previous academic achievement;
(ii) athletic or other extracurricular ability;
(iii) the fact that the student requires special education services for which space isavailable;
(iv) proficiency in the English language; or
(v) previous disciplinary proceedings, except as provided in Subsection (3)(b).
(b) A board may provide for the denial of applications from students who:
(i) have committed serious infractions of the law or school rules, including rules of thedistrict in which enrollment is sought; or
(ii) have been guilty of chronic misbehavior which would, if it were to continue after thestudent was admitted:
(A) endanger persons or property;
(B) cause serious disruptions in the school; or
(C) place unreasonable burdens on school staff.
(c) A board may also provide for provisional enrollment of students with prior behaviorproblems, establishing conditions under which enrollment of a nonresident student would bepermitted or continued.
(4) (a) The State Board of Education, in consultation with the Utah High SchoolActivities Association, shall establish policies regarding nonresident student participation ininterscholastic competition.
(b) Nonresident students shall be eligible for extracurricular activities at a public schoolconsistent with eligibility standards as applied to students that reside within the schoolattendance area, except as provided by policies established under Subsection (4)(a).
(5) For each school in the district, the local school board shall post on the schooldistrict's website:
(a) the school's maximum capacity;
(b) the school's adjusted capacity;
(c) the school's projected enrollment used in the calculation of the open enrollmentthreshold;
(d) actual enrollment on October 1, January 2, and April 1;
(e) the number of nonresident student enrollment requests;
(f) the number of nonresident student enrollment requests accepted; and
(g) the number of resident students transferring to another school.
Amended by Chapter 346, 2008 General Session