SERIES 5000: STUDENTS, CURRICULUM, AND ACADEMIC MATTERS
5300 Student Enrollment, Attendance, and Records
5305 Schools-of-Choice
The Board will annually determine whether the District will accept schools-of-choice students who reside in the same ISD in which the District is located, who reside within an ISD contiguous to the ISD in which the District is located, or both. If the Board determines that schools-of-choice students will be accepted for enrollment, the Board will establish the grades, schools, and programs in which they may enroll and the number of schools-of-choice students the District will accept for each open grade, school, or program.
If the Board determines that the District will accept schools-of-choice students, the Superintendent or designee will ensure that applicable provisions of state law are followed, including, without limitation:
A. publishing the grades, schools, and programs for which the District will accept schools-of-choice applicants;
B. establishing an application period of at least 15 and no more than 30 calendar days if the Board has limited the number of schools-of-choice students who may enroll in a grade, school, or program;
C. selecting students who may enroll in the following manner:
1.the Superintendent or designee must give preference to an applicant who resides in the same household as a student already enrolled in the District;
2. the Superintendent or designee may refuse to enroll a student who has been suspended from another school in the preceding 2 years or who has ever been expelled from another school or convicted of a felony;
3. the Superintendent or designee will require that schools-of-choice students meet the same criteria that a resident student must meet to enroll in a grade or specialized/magnet school or program;
4. if, after applying the enrollment preferences and exclusions described in this Policy, there are more applicants than spots available in a particular grade, school, or program, the Superintendent or designee will select students based on a random draw lottery;
5. except as otherwise stated in this Policy, the Superintendent or designee may not make enrollment decisions based on any other factors.
D. following all notice and timeline requirements;
E. allowing a student who has enrolled as a schools-of-choice student to continue to enroll in the District until the student graduates, enrolls in another school, drops out of school, or is expelled from school;
F. requesting records from a student’s previous district.
Before enrolling a student who resides outside of the ISD in which the District is located and who has been identified as a child with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Superintendent or designee will attempt to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the student’s resident district. If the District and the student’s resident district fail to reach a cost-sharing agreement, the student will not be enrolled in the District.
If the District receives a request from another district for records about a resident student’s schools-of-choice application, the Superintendent or designee will promptly respond to the request.
The Superintendent or designee may pursue all available legal options, including referral to law enforcement, against any person who provides false or misleading information on a schools-of-choice application.
Students not eligible to enroll pursuant to this Policy may only enroll consistent with Policy 5303.
Legal authority: MCL 388.1705, 388.1705c
Date adopted: 08/09/2021
Date revised: 06/19/2023
