Implementing the Open Enrollment Act Will Be a Scramble as 1,000 Eligible Schools are Identified- Districts Required to Send Notices by September 15
The State Board of Education has just adopted emergency regulations implementing the Open Enrollment Act of 2010 (SBX5 4) without providing much clarity to an already confusing law. See our Legal Alert for full details of the law and regulations.
The emergency regulations included a Preliminary List of 1,000 identified “low-achieving” schools whose students can opt to open enroll to a higher achieving school, either inside the district or in another district! Districts with schools on the list must notify parents/guardians of this option by the first day of instruction or by September 15 at the latest. And although this transfer option is limited to students attending one of the 1000 identified schools, many other receiving districts and schools will be affected. These districts will need to be sure they consider accepting or rejecting open enrollment applications according to the new law and regulations.
Adding to the confusion, this option is on top of existing choice options including intra-district open enrollment, Program Improvement transfers and inter-district transfers; each with its own set of laws and regulations. In addition, the definition of “low-achieving schools” for the purpose of this open enrollment option is confusingly different from definitions of “low-achieving schools” and “persistently lowest-performing schools” included in the Intervening in the Persistently Lowest-Performing Schools provisions of SBX5 1 conforming California to the federal Race to the Top requirements. More lists were created for these schools for implementing turnaround strategies.
The Open Enrollment emergency regulations will be effective as soon as the Office of Administrative approves them, which could be sometime within the next two weeks. KMTG suggests districts review the preliminary list of 1000 Open Enrollment schools to see if any of its own schools are on the list and prepare for notifying parents. Potential receiving districts should review existing open enrollment and transfer policies for conformance to these new requirements. In the meantime, keep posted here for new developments.
By Sally Jensen Dutcher
Emergency regulations are posted on the CDE website and available for public comment through July 22.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/rr/openenroll.asp
The earliest emergency regulations will then be forwarded to the OAL would be July 23. OAL also has a 5 calendar day comment period and OAL has up to 10 days to review and approve the emergency regulations. With this timeline, it looks like the regs would be final August 5 or 6.
If and when approved, CDE will issue a final list of 1,000 schools.
SJD
Open Enrollment Act Regulations Blog Update:
ReplyDeleteThe Open Enrollment Act emergency regulations were posted on the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) website on July 23 and will be open for public comment until July 30. See http://www.oal.ca.gov/res/docs/pdf/emergency_postings/2010-0723-02E.pdf
The regulations were also posted for public comment on the CDE website and were available for public comment through July 22.
The SBE has agendized these regulations for its August 2, 2010 Board meeting and will consider them again “if necessary”. SBE is expecting final action by OAL by that date and if the emergency regulations are approved, CDE will issue a final list of 1,000 open enrollment schools.
“The CDE has posted the final list of Open Enrollment Schools and has developed a page on their website devoted to this topic. See http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/op/. Most of the schools on the preliminary list remain on the list, although about 23 schools were removed. CDE will notify those districts/schools whose schools were removed from the list, but districts should double check the list in preparation for issuing notices to parents/guardians by the first day of instruction. If your district has already started, then notices must by provided by September 15.”
ReplyDeleteSally
Can anyone explain how and in what instance the waiver for the January 1 deadline can be applied? I believe Ed. Code 48354 provides the waiver for accepting districts to establish an alternate enrollment period for non-residents. It appears the January 1 deadline would still apply for residents. Is this correct?
ReplyDelete