AB 644

Under the full-time open enrollment program (OEP), a pupil may attend a

public school in a school district other than the pupil's resident school district

(nonresident school district). Under current law, the standard OEP application

procedure requires a pupil's parent to apply to a nonresident school district during

the spring semester immediately preceding the school year in which the pupil wishes

to attend the nonresident school district. Current law also provides an alternative

application procedure that allows a pupil's parent to apply to a nonresident school

district at any time during the school year, if certain circumstances apply, such as the

pupil moved into this state, the pupil has been the victim of repeated bullying or

harassment, or the pupil's parent, the resident school board, and the nonresident

school board agree that attending school in the nonresident school district is in the

best interests of the pupil.

This bill creates an alternative OEP application procedure for pupils who have

a parent who is employed as a teacher in the nonresident school district to which the

application is made. The application procedure created in the bill is available at any

time during the school year and, if a pupil is accepted under the procedure, the pupil

may immediately begin attending public school in the nonresident school district.

However, under the bill, if the pupil's parent is no longer employed by the

nonresident school board as a teacher or an administrator, the nonresident school

board may require the pupil to reapply using the standard or existing alternative

OEP application procedure.

Current law limits the criteria that a nonresident school district may use to

accept or reject applications under the OEP. One of the criteria that a nonresident

school district may use is the availability of space in the schools, programs, classes,

or grades in the nonresident school district. Current law requires each school board

to determine the availability of regular and special education spaces it has for

nonresident pupils to attend school under the OEP at the school board's regular

January meeting in the preceding school year. Under the application procedure

created in the bill, a nonresident school board may accept a pupil's application even

if the result is that the nonresident school board exceeds the number of spaces it

determined were available for nonresident pupils in a school, program, class, or

grade in the nonresident school district. In other words, the space limitations

determined by the nonresident school board do not apply to these applications. The

bill also adds whether a pupil's parent is employed as a teacher by the nonresident

school district to the criteria that a nonresident school district may use to accept or

reject OEP applications.

Finally, current law limits the number of nonresident school boards to which

a pupil may apply to attend a public school in a nonresident school district under the

OEP. Specifically, under current law, OEP applications for a pupil may be submitted

to no more than three nonresident school boards in any school year. However,