The Governing Board desires to provide enrollment options that meet the diverse needs and interests of district students.
Students who reside within district boundaries may apply for enrollment in any district school. The Superintendent or designee shall determine the capacity and grade level configurations of each district school and establish a random, unbiased selection process for the admission of students from outside a school's attendance area, based on space availability. Each year the District will establish an Open Enrollment window. Students whose applications are received during that window will be entered into a lottery.
Students applying for Open Enrollment, after the Open Enrollment window has closed, will be placed on a waiting list in the order in which their application is received. Late Open Enrollment Applications will be accepted until the Friday before the last day of school for the current year. Parents requesting a change in school after this date will apply through the Intradistrict Transfer Request process (BP 5116.1). In accordance with law, no student currently residing within a school's attendance area shall be displaced by another student.
The Board retains the authority to maintain appropriate racial and ethnic balances among district schools. (Education Code 35160.5)
Enrollment Priorities
Children of employees eligible for priority enrollment are the children of employees and children who are under the legal guardianship of current employees.
For the purpose of Open Enrollment, employees are defined as those individuals belonging to an employee bargaining unit within the district, persons holding management positions, and hourly employees who work at least fifty percent of each week.
Employees who reside outside the boundaries of the school district must obtain a release from their home district (Inter-district transfer) in order for a child of theirs to attend school in Santa Clara Unified School District. The approval must include coverage for the cost of special needs services.
The Board may suspend all inter-district transfers during periods of economic difficulty. Notice will be given to affected students and their parents prior to the close of school in the year previous to the one in which the privilege will be rescinded. Exceptions may be made for children who are in the last grade level at the school of desired attendance, when reciprocal agreements have been made with other districts, or when the financial impact is negligible.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
200 Prohibition against discrimination
35160.5 District policies; rules and regulations
35291 Rules
35351 Assignment of students to particular schools
46600-46611 Interdistrict attendance agreements
48200 Compulsory attendance
48204 Residency requirements for school attendance
48300-48316 Student attendance alternatives, school district of choice program
48350-48361 Open Enrollment Act
48980 Notice at beginning of term
CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 5
11992-11994 Definition of persistently dangerous schools
UNITED STATES CODE, TITLE 20
6316 Transfers from program improvement schools
7912 Transfers from persistently dangerous schools
CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS, TITLE 34
200.36 Dissemination of information
200.37 Notice of program improvement status, option to transfer
200.39 Program improvement, transfer option
200.42 Corrective action, transfer option
200.43 Restructuring, transfer option
200.44 Public school choice, program improvement schools
200.48 Transportation funding for public school choice
COURT DECISIONS
Crawford v. Huntington Beach Union High School District, (2002) 98 Cal.App.4th 1275
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS
85 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 95 (2002)
Management Resources:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NONREGULATORY GUIDANCE
Public School Choice, January 2009
Unsafe School Choice Option, May 2004
WEB SITES
CSBA: http://www.csba.org
California Department of Education, Unsafe School Choice Option: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/usco.asp
U.S. Department of Education, No Child Left Behind: http://www.nclb.gov
Policy SANTA CLARA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
adopted: December 12, 2013 Santa Clara, California