SPONSOR: |
Rep. K. Williams & Rep. Scott & Sen. Townsend |
|
Reps.
Baumbach, Bennett, Bolden, Brady, Briggs King, Dukes, Keeley, Kowalko,
Mulrooney, Osienski, Potter |
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
HOUSE BILL NO. 337 |
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT ENROLLMENT CHOICE PROGRAM. |
Section 1. Amend §402, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by
making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by
underline as follows:
§ 402
Definitions.
For the
purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following
meanings:
(5) "Receiving
local education agency" shall mean any public authority legally
constituted by the State as an administrative agency to provide control of and
direction for kindergarten through twelfth grade public educational
institutions, other than the school district of residence, which administers
any school or program in which a student seeks to enroll, including any
receiving district. Where the local education agency is the school district
of residence that includes more than 1 school or more than 1 program within any
school providing instruction at a given grade level, and a parent of a child
entering such grade level applies to enroll that parent's child in a public
school program within the district of residence other than the program in which
the child would normally be enrolled based on the child's place of residence,
the district of residence shall also be considered to be the receiving local
education agency for all purposes of this chapter, except for the purposes of §
408 of this title. Notwithstanding § 505 of this title, the term
"receiving local education agency" shall include charter schools.
(6) "Working
days" shall mean working days as determined by a school district's local
education agency’s administrative calendar.
Section 2. Amend §403, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by
making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by
underline as follows:
§ 403 Pupil
application; withdrawal.
(a) Any
parent of a school age child may apply to enroll that parent's own child in a
school or program in a receiving local education agency by submitting a written
application, on a standard form provided by the Department of Education, to the
Department of Education or to the receiving district local education
agency and to the district of residence on or after the first Monday in
November and on or before the second Wednesday in January for enrollment
during the following school year, except that a parent may apply to a receiving
district local education agency until the first day of the school
year for enrollment in a kindergarten program during that school year. The
Department of Education shall distribute applications to the appropriate
receiving local education agency no later than 10 working days after the
application deadlines set forth in this subsection. Receiving districts may
require the submission of information beyond that contained in the standard
form provided that it requires the submission of the same information by the
parents of children residing in the attendance zone for the school.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this subsection, charter schools,
vocational-technical school districts, and magnet schools may accept
applications submitted after the second Wednesday in January to fill
remaining availability.
(b) If
a parent of a school age child fails to file an application by the deadline
established in subsection (a) of this section, and good cause exists for the
failure to meet the deadline, the receiving district local education
agency and the district of residence shall accept and consider the
application in the same manner as if the deadline had been met.
(c) The
parent of a school age child may withdraw the application at any time prior to
action on the application by the board of the receiving district local
education agency by giving written notice to the boards of the receiving district
local education agency and the district of residence.
(d) The
parent shall indicate on the standard form the schools and programs to which
the parent is applying on behalf of his or her child, as well as the parent's
order of preference of the schools or programs.
Section 3. Amend §404, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by
making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by
underline as follows:
§ 404
Receiving district and local education agency procedures.
(a) Within
10 working days of receiving after an application deadline,
the receiving district shall transmit a notice to the district of residence
that it has received the application.
(b) The
board of the receiving district local education agency shall take
action no later than the last day of February of the school year preceding
enrollment to approve or disapprove an application for admission to a program
in grades 1 through 12, and no later than June 15 of the school year preceding
enrollment to approve or disapprove an application for admission to a
kindergarten program.
(c) With
respect to any application filed in accordance with the provisions of § 403(b)
of this title, the board of the receiving district local education
agency shall take action to approve or disapprove the application no later
than 45 days after receipt thereof, unless the application is received prior
to a lottery conducted as
outlined in a local education agency’s enrollment policy in the case of
over-enrollment.
(d) The
board of the receiving district local education agency shall
transmit a notice of the board's action to the parent of the child, and to the
board of the district of residence within 5 working days after board action.
(e) The
parent who applied for the child shall notify the board of the receiving local
education agency in writing no later than the third Friday in March, whether an
offer is accepted or rejected.
(f) No later than November 30 of each year,
the board of each receiving district shall transmit to the Department of
Education notice of the capacity of each school in the receiving district for
the following academic year and the projected enrollment for the following
academic year. The capacity and projected enrollment figures may be revised
until January 30. For the purposes of this subsection, "capacity"
shall have the same meaning as set forth in § 405(c) of this title, and
"projected enrollment" shall mean the total number of returning
students and new attendance zone students the receiving district anticipates
will enroll for the following academic year.
(f) (g) No later than October 31 of each year, each
receiving district shall hold at least 1 public information session about
choice opportunities available in schools and programs in that district for the
coming academic year.
Section 4. Amend §405, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by
making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by
underline as follows:
§ 405
Criteria for approval or disapproval.
(a) Each
receiving district local education agency shall adopt and make
available a policy regarding the order in which applications for enrollment
pursuant to this chapter shall be considered and the criteria by which such
applications shall be evaluated.
(b) Prior
to the applicable application deadline established in § 403(a) of this title,
each receiving district shall adopt and make available a policy establishing
criteria for acceptance or rejection of applications and setting priorities for
acceptances consistent with this section. Such criteria shall be reasonably
related to the nature of the program or school for which the application is
submitted and may not differ from the criteria used for acceptance or rejection
of applications submitted by parents of children residing in the attendance
zone of the school, if applicable, except that a district shall give priority
to the following categories of students in the order listed:
(1) First,
to returning students who continue to meet the requirements for the program or
school, including students graduating from 1 school to another within a single
program;
(2) Second,
to students who meet the requirements for the program or school and who seek to
attend based upon the residence of the student's parent within the designated
feeder pattern, if any, for the school; and
(3) Third,
to the siblings of students already enrolled in the school who will be
returning to the school for the following academic year, provided that any
siblings seeking priority under this paragraph meet the requirements for the
program or school. Priority may be given to siblings of students who live in
the district over siblings of students who do not live in the district.
In addition
to the above, a receiving district may next give priority to students who have
designated the program or school as a first, second, or third choice; to
students who live within the district; and to children of school employees; as
long as they otherwise meet the criteria of the program or school. After a
receiving district has admitted all qualifying students consistent with the
criteria in this subsection, the receiving district shall use a lottery process
to admit additional students and generate a ranked waiting list. The Department
may verify the randomness of the lottery process.
(c) Each receiving local education agency
shall accept applications, in a manner consistent with the policy adopted
pursuant to this subsection, until there is a lack of capacity in each school
and program. Students who meet the receiving local education agency’s
criteria for acceptance in the policy but who are not selected due to a lack of
capacity in the school or program shall be placed on a ranked waiting list
maintained by the receiving local education agency until June 30
the first day of the receiving local education agency’s school year for which
they applied.
(c)(d) Consistent with subsection (b) of this
section, a receiving district local education agency may
disapprove an application because of lack of capacity in a particular program
or school. For purposes of this section, "capacity" means the maximum
number of students that a program or school can contain as determined solely by
considerations of physical space, physical resources, and class size for each
grade level. For the purposes of this section, " lack of capacity"
means that the school or program calculates projected enrollment for the
following academic year to be at least 85% of its capacity.
(d)(e) A district which is subject to a
court-ordered desegregation plan may approve and disapprove applications in
accordance with § 406(a) of this title.
Section 5. This Act shall take effect on August 1, 2014.
SYNOPSIS
This bill promotes uniformity in the timing of the application process for school districts, charter schools, magnet schools, and career and technical education schools. |