Policy 500.30 – Open Enrollment, School Admissions, and School Moratoriums

For District procedures for enrollment of homeless children and youth and unaccompanied minors in accordance with federal and state law, please refer Policy-500.31—School Admissions—Homeless Children and Youth and Unaccompanied Minors.

Determination of Child’s School District of Residence:

1. 1. The school district of residence of a minor child whose parent/legal guardian resides within Utah is the school district in which the parent/legal guardian resides, or the school district in which the child resides:
      1. while in the custody or under the supervision of a Utah state agency, local mental health authority, or substance abuse authority;
      2. while under the supervision of a private or public agency authorized to provide child placement services by the state;
      3. while living with a responsible adult resident of the district, if a determination has been made by the board that:
         1. the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health will best be served by considering the child to be a resident for school purposes;
         2. exigent circumstances exist that do not permit the case to be appropriately addressed under the district’s open enrollment procedures; and
         3. considering the child to be a resident of the district would not any other law or rule;
      4. while the child is receiving services from a health care facility or human services program, if a determination has been made by the board that:
         
         1. the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health will best be served by considering the child to be a resident for school purposes;
         2. exigent circumstances exist that do not permit the case to be appropriately addressed under the district’s open enrollment procedures; and
         3. considering the child to be a resident of the district would not violate any other law or rule; or
      5. if the child is married or has been legally declared an emancipated minor.
2. A minor child whose parent/legal guardian does not reside in the state is considered to be a resident of the district in which the child lives, if:
   1. the child is married or an emancipated minor;
   2. the child lives with a resident of the district who is a responsible adult and whom the district agrees to designate as the child’s legal guardian in accordance with state law;
   3. the Board determines that:
      1. the child lives with a responsible adult who is a resident of the district and is the child’s noncustodial parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt;
      2. the child’s presence in the district is not for the primary purpose of attending the public schools;
      3. the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health will best be served by considering the child to be a resident for school purposes; and
      4. the child is prepared to abide by the rules and policies of the school and school district in which attendance is sought; or
   4. the Board determines that:
      1. the child’s parent or guardian moves from the state;
      2. the child’s parent or guardian executes a power of attorney under Utah Code §75-5-103 that:
         1. meets the requirements (3) below; and
         2. delegates powers regarding care, custody, or property, including schooling, to a responsible adult with whom the child resides;
      3. the responsible adult described in 2.3.1 is a resident of the district;
      4. the child’s physical, mental, moral, or emotional health will best be served by considering the child to be a resident for school purposes;
      5. the child is prepared to abide by the rules and policies of the school and school district in which attendance is sought; and
      6. the child’s attendance in the school will not be detrimental to the school or school district.
3. If admission is sought under 1.3, 2.3, or 2.4, then the district may require the person with whom the child lives to be designated as the child’s custodian in a durable power of attorney, granting the custodian full authority to take any appropriate action, including authorization for educational or medical services, in the interests of the child.
   1. The granting party and custodian shall agree to assume responsibility for any fees; and if eligibility for fee waivers is claimed, provide the school with allthe financial information requested by the Distract for purposes of determining eligibility of fee waivers.
   2. A durable power of attorney shall remain in force until the earliest of thefollowing occurs:
      1. the child reaches 18 years old, marries, or become emancipated;
      2. the expiration date stated in the document; or
      3. the power of attorney is revoked or rendered inoperative by grantor or grantee, or by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Open Enrollment

1. Open Enrollment: Students who wish to attend a school other than the resident boundary school may file a request (standard open enrollment form) for an open enrollment application at the school they desire to attend.
   1. Open enrollment applications shall be considered on a first-come, first served basis each year.  
   2. An employee of Canyons School District may submit an open enrollment application for their own student to attend a CSD school and receive acceptance of the application subject to same terms and conditions as other open enrollment applications, except such an application may be accepted if the school is beyond the open enrollment threshold.
      1. Accepted student are subject to all other policies and procedures, including provisions related to open enrollment and provisional permits.    
2. Acceptance or Rejection of an Open Enrollment Applications:
   1. Criteria for the acceptance or rejection of an open enrollment application includes the following:  
      1. In an elementary school, the capacity of a grade level;
      2. The ability to maintain a heterogeneous student population if necessary to avoid violation of constitutional or statutory rights of students;
      3. Maintenance of reduced class sizes in a Title I school that uses federal, state, and local monies to reduce class sizes for the purpose of improving student achievement, or in a school that uses school trust monies to reduce class size;
      4. Not offering or not having capacity in an elementary or secondary special education class or other special program the student requires;
      5. The willingness of a prospective student to comply with district and school policies;
      6. Giving priority to intra-district transfers over inter-district transfers; or
      7. Serious infractions of law or school rules, chronic misbehavior which is likely to endanger persons, property, cause serious disruptions in the school, or place unreasonable burdens on the school staff.  
   2. Criteria for acceptance or rejection may not include the following:
      1. Previous academic achievement;
      2. Athletic of other extracurricular ability;
      3. Special education services for which space is available;
      4. Proficiency in the English language;
      5. The students race, color, national origin, gender, disability or any other classification protected by law; or
      6. Previous disciplinary proceedings, except as listed in 2.1.7.
   3. A provisional enrollment may be granted to students with prior behavior problems, establishing conditions under which enrollment of a nonresident student would be permitted or continued.
3. Notification: The school administrator shall send written notification of acceptance or rejection of the open enrollment application to the student’s parent(s)/ legal guardian(s).
4. Parents/legal guardians shall be notified of the right to appeal the decision of the school administrator regarding an open enrollment rejection to an Enrollment Appeal Panel.  
5. Once enrolled in a nonresident school, the student may remain enrolled subject to compliance with all District and school policies, rules, and procedures established for all students, and the student is not required to submit annual or periodic applications unless one of the following occurs:
   1. The student graduates from high school;
   2. The student is no longer a Utah resident;
   3. The student is suspended or expelled from school; or
   4. The District determines that enrollment within the particular school will exceed open enrollment threshold capacities; or
   5. For a child of a military service member (See, 53G-8-102), who moves from temporary to permanent housing outside the District boundaries following a permanent change of station:
      1. In grades K-10, the student completes the current school year; or
      2. In grades 11 and 12, the student graduates.  
6. Nonrenewal of Open Enrollment Applications: When the district determines that enrollment within the school will exceed the school’s open enrollment threshold, determination of which nonresident students will be excluded from continued enrollment in a school during a subsequent year is based upon time in the school, with those most recently enrolled excluded first and the use of a lottery system when multiple nonresident students have the same number of school days in the school.
7. The Board of Education retains sole authority for any nonrenewal of open enrollment applications, which nonrenewal would be the result of the school exceeding the open enrollment threshold. Any such action of the Board will be done by vote in an open meeting.
8. Appeal: The determination of the open enrollment application rejection or open enrollment application revocation, may be appealed to a three-person District Enrollment Appeal Panel appointed by the Superintendent or the superintendent’s designee.  The members of the appeal panel shall not have prior participation in the matter being reviewed.
   1. A written appeal must be made to the superintendent’s designee, the Office of School Performance, within ten (10) business days of the day the open enrollment application rejection or open enrollment application revocation. 
   2. The appeal panel shall review the determination of the school administrator and any documents submitted by the student.
   3. The appeal panel may affirm the decision of the school administrator or amend the determination.
   4. The appeal panel’s decision shall be issued within twenty-one (21) business days of receipt of the student’s written appeal.
9. Appeal to the Board of Education: The decision of the District Enrollment Appeal Panel may be appealed in writing to the Board of Education only for procedural error or to submit any new evidence.
   1. The written appeal must be submitted within ten (10) business days of receiving the decision of the District’s appeal panel.
   2. The Board of Education shall review written appeals submitted at the next available Board meeting.