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INFORMATION ONLY
July
28, 2011
TO
THE CHARTER ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:
Re: Admission, Enrollment and Withdrawal
This letter summarizes several important
statutes relating to open-enrollment charter school admission, enrollment and
withdrawal. We hope you will find this
summary helpful as you begin the 2011-2012 school year. For more information addressing both charters
and school districts, see the separate To the Administer Addressed letter
regarding attendance, admission, enrollment records, and tuition.
I. Admission and Enrollment
As stated in the separate letter,
§25.001
[1]
applies to open-enrollment charter schools for purposes of determining whether
a student meets the residence requirements for the open--enrollment charter
school designated geographical boundary. However, there are other considerations unique to charters that are
discussed in this letter.
Unlike a school district, an
open-enrollment charter school may have an application deadline
[2]
. Once the application deadline has expired, a
charter school is required to accept all timely applications from students who
meet the residency requirements for the open-enrollment charter school’s
designated geographic boundary
[3]
up
to the maximum enrollment capacity set out in the charter.
If a charter school has first enrolled
all eligible applicants from its designated geographic boundary but its
enrollment has not reached the maximum number of students approved in its
charter, it may admit students from outside its designated geographic boundary
in accordance with the terms of its charter.
[4]
If more students apply to the charter school
than can be accommodated, a charter school should allocate spaces through a
lottery process or fill available positions in the order in which applications
were received before the application deadline if notice to the public is
provided as required in by statute.
[5]
In order to receive federal Charter School
Program (CSP) funds, a charter must provide a lottery.
[6]
No student auditions can be required
prior to admission and enrollment at a charter school unless the charter was
originally approved by the State Board of Education (SBOE) as a performing arts
school with an audition component or the charter was amended by the
commissioner of education to designate the school a performing arts school with
an audition component.
[7]
A student may be ineligible for
enrollment at a charter school based on a history of a criminal offense, a
juvenile court adjudication, or discipline problems under Texas Education Code
(TEC), Chapter 37, Subchapter A, only if the enrollment prohibition was
specifically approved by the SBOE when the charter was originally awarded, or
if the charter was amended by the commissioner of education to allow this
enrollment prohibition. It must be noted
that the enrollment prohibition is allowed only for those serious discipline
problems specified in TEC Chapter 37, Subchapter A.
[8]
As mentioned above, while there are
specific statutes that allow audition components for performing arts charters
and enrollment prohibitions for discipline problems as defined in TEC Chapter 37,
Subchapter A, there are no statutes that allow for required parental interviews
or attendance at meetings with school officials prior to admission or during
their student’s tenure at the school. Likewise
parents cannot be required to volunteer or make payment in lieu of volunteering
as a condition of admission of enrollment at an open-enrollment charter school.
If space is available, an eligible
student must be admitted and enrolled on any day at any time of the day and
must be counted as and considered a charter student immediately. Open-enrollment charter schools cannot have
specified days for admission and/or enrollment of students. State law does not allow for a trial
enrollment period at a public school; therefore, there can be no period of time
in which a student attends a charter school without being enrolled as a charter
school student.
II. Withdrawal and Expulsion
A student who fails to comply with the
charter school’s student code of conduct may not be administratively
withdrawn. If a student commits an
expellable offense, as outlined in the student code of conduct, charter administrators
may expel the student only after due process has been afforded the student, and
the charter holder board has determined that expulsion is the appropriate
consequence.
[9]
The charter holder shall notify the school
district in which the student resides within three (3) business days of any
action expelling or withdrawing a student from the charter school.
[10]
We hope this summary is helpful to you
in preparing for the 2010-2011 school year. If you have questions about the statutory provisions summarized in this
letter, you are welcome to call the Office of Legal Services at (512) 463-9720.
Sincerely,
David A. Anderson
General Counsel
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